El Ten Eleven, the post-rock duo comprised of Kristian Dunn (bass/guitar) and Tim Fogarty (drums), will release their Tautology trio of LPs this year via Joyful Noise Recordings. The 3-part series deals with the “arc of life” and it will kick off on May 1st with the release of Tautology I. Additionally, El Ten Eleven has announced that Tautology II will come out on July 10th and Tautology III on September 18th.
Discussing the series’ first release, Dunn explains: “I wanted to represent what my teenage years were like, when I was full of testosterone and depression. When you’re a teenager everything feels so grandiose and dramatic.” Continuing to explore the stages of life, the bassist/guitarist goes on to say about the series’ second installment: “I’m middle-aged now, and this is the happiest I’ve ever been. I think that comes across in the music. This record is the one that sounds the most like the El Ten Eleven people are used to.”
Dunn further iterates that Tautology III deals with the death of a family member, with the musician explaining: “I don’t know what it’s like to be elderly. But my grandmother-in-law Frances McMaster was a very inspiring person. She died recently, and I was thinking about her a lot. She was really smart. She lived into her early nineties and she wrote her fourth book when she was 88. I’d like to be like her if I make it to that age.”
Today we listen to “With Report” off Tautology I. Dealing with the bombastic issues of adolescence, the cut brims with palpable anxiety as razor-sharp guitar tension cuts against defiant blasts of drum. Soon, a burly bass riff drops as “With Report” struts with that invincible confidence of youth. With interweaving bass and guitar parts punctuated by crisp drumming, this track builds to a tight wire of tension that threatens to explode at any moment.
