indigo flow
september 2005, review of single "electricity"
andy malt
Electricity is taken from Tears In X-ray Eyes’ second album, The Way We Live Now (released on Test Tube Records
last November) and was by far the standout track on that nonetheless brilliant album. It’s just under three minutes
of frantic indie-pop in the vein of The Buzzcocks and I urge you to incorporate it into your CD collection as soon
as you possibly can. 5/5
atomic duster
august 2005, review of single "electricity"
New single from the best artist unknown to the man on the street.
T: I know we try to avoid using too many profanities here at Atomicduster, but can I just say that this is chuffing bollock-squeezingly brilliant?
N: Chuff me, you're right there. That was a rhetorical statement you understand?
T: [pulls trousers back up]
N: Steady tiger. It's amazing how Tim can change the pace and general euphoric atmosphere in the second track "Promised Land" (third track on the album), as he sings "Take my hand and run to the promised land". Third track on the single, "Don't Crush the One You Love", an acoustic number, I feel, is going back to how I met Tears In X-ray Eyes in the first place, although no less brilliant.
T: Did I mention that this was chuffing excellent?
N: I think you chuffing did. 9/10
nme
7 may 2005, review of single "electricity"
pete cashmore
Unprepossessing white boys who happen to be multi-instrumentalist genii of a lyrical bent being very much the thing nowadays, here's
another little essential. Less baroque than Patrick Wolf and less knowingly smart than Bright Eyes, it's still charming and
beguiling and full of swoon and sigh.
losing today
april 2005, review of single "electricity"
We don't mind admitting that we've spent hours searching the losing today record shed high and low for previous Tears in X-Ray Eyes
releases because at any given point throughout 'Electricity' we could have swore it was a different band so brittle and straight
out of the can and at you as it is. Taken from the album ‘The way we live now' from last year which annoyingly we somehow missed,
not mislaid, missed (there is a subtle difference given the mishaps of recent months), 'Electricity' is something of a charged up
baby and sees Closs revving up the amps phasing the vocals for a spiky slice of sub three minute punk pop, effervescently adorable
and fuzz-tastically adopting a trumpet to the cause towards the close - cool - you better believe it. ‘Promised Land' what can we
say, the sound of Christmas in April, strange as it may seem it casts a nostalgic glint that hits you right here, no not there, here.
This shimmering tour de force epic incorporates vague traces of finely cut 70's MOR and splices it with a colourful sun bathed
Gaelic sheen to leave you speechless, drained and begging for more. 'Don't crush the one you love' ah yes indeed familiar territories
for Mr Closs here doing his best Marc Bolan vocal quiver, an acoustic appraisal of the track that featured on the b-side of the
long deleted debut 'Stained Glass'. This divisive cutie hits you as though an invisible hand has reached inside your innards and
squeezed your pips so tightly that tears are flowing from your ears - a much needed lesson in tranquil and sensitively toned song
craft amid the blur of a tomorrow today society. Perfect.
clash
december 2004
This is an incredibly well-produced, quirky album of spiralling indie grooves and the second album from Tim Closs. An ambitious mix
of electronica, guitars, strings and orchestral percussion fuse over 10 twisted tracks, in equal parts melancholy and optimistic,
they all resonate with a longing for the imagined tranquility of a bygone age. Closs's lyrics and dense and expansive whilst the
instrumentation and structure of each song and the entire album's progression is fascinating to say the least.
'The Way We Live Now' has a remarkable and individualistic quality, which is lacking in many of its peers. Patient, well-produced
and possessing an underlying confidence, which allows its components the space to breathe and play, Closs will no doubt be
furnishing our ears with magnificence in the future.
atomic duster
february 2005
This "band" seems to be becoming quite a firm favourite amongst the Atomicduster staff of late, so we're approaching this one with
trembling fingers...
T: Completely rivetting, as is always the case with Tim Closs. I don't know what else to say about it - it's innovative, it brings
a tear to your eye at times, and the rest of the time you feel as though you're grabbing closely at the sidegrip of a white knuckle
ride. Astonishing, sublime, beautiful: all those words still can't sum up just how much of a national treasure Tears In X-Ray Eyes
are. If you don't agree to give this ten out of ten I'm going to punch you on the nose...
N: Right. It's not surprising this artist has become somewhat of a, how did you put it?, "a firm favourite". This is the shining
star on top of the Christmas tree (no pun intended, Anthony). An album's worth of content that screams "brilliant". Well paced,
and collectively superb - this should be shown to all who come after exactly how an album should be made. And as for my nose, it'd
make no difference even if you did - 10 is no less than this deserves. 10/10
tasty fanzine
october 2004
sam metcalf
It seems an age, but TIXE have only been in my life just over two years now. In that time the band - pretty much Tim Closs and a
few close friends - have released one divine debut album and a handful of singles. But 'The Way We Live Now' is surely their finest
hour to date.
The press release says that the new album sees a sea change in the sound of TIXE. Personally, I can't see that much has altered,
and that's a good thing. Opener, 'Don't Be So Beautiful' has that unique TIXE sound - where every chorus drips with melancholy and
every verse sounds like it should be at number one for every Christmas ever.
Maybe the TIXE sound has become a little harsher on some of the tracks here. 'Love is Suicide' fair rattles along, with choppy
guitars behind Closs' ever fragile voice. But what always remains is a lonely defiance to most of these songs. TIXE can make even
the most twee of 'do-do-dos' sounds as though they're being threatened by a great big hammer.
Outside of London, TIXE are anonymous. This is one of the greatest tragedies in modern pop music. 'The Way We Live Now' - a vision
in pink - must surely change all that.
indigo flow
october 2004
andy malt
With a sound that looks back on pop music as far as its horizon, Tears In X-Ray Eyes are very hard to define and impossible to
pigeon-hole. A great deal of work has gone into this mix of electronica, guitars, strings and orchestral percussion.
Created by Tim Closs in his south London bedroom, with help from Anthony Christmas (drums), Cameron Miller (bass), Alexa Beattie
(viola) and Tom Arthurs (trumpet), The Way We Live Now twists and turns through a range of moods, tones and emotions, peaking at the
amazing indie-rock eruption of Electricity.
Bedroom producers are split into two types: those who can tell when their music is bad and those who can't. Tim Closs is either the
former or he never writes bad music. 5/5