Hailing all the way from the beautiful land of Scotland comes dazzling pop duo Tuff Love. Tuff Love consists of, Julie Eisenstein on guitar and vocals, Suse Bear on bass and vocals, and they have a live drummer, Lain Stewart. The gals of Tuff Love have just released their third official EP titled, Dregs, and it is already receiving much love from music enthusiasts around.
The duo keep it DIY, back to the basics and work like true artists. They write, engineer and produce all of their own work, giving their tunes a hint of charm and genuineness that is hard to come across nowadays. Dregs is filled with twinkling guitars, emotional vocals and hypnotic lyrics that chill your body all throughout. These gals have confidence and talent that shines through brightly on this 5 song EP, and show them boys that girls are just as good if not better!
The opening tune, “Duke” is a dazzling distorted experience. It has a slight throwback to 60’s psychedelic rock mixed with shoegaze. Two genres of music that have nothing to with each other, but they mashed it together into a song that mesmerizes and flows consistently. The guitar melody mixed with the soft “oohhs” makes me cringe in the best way possible. It gives you that jolt of euphoria or that high that people get when they listen to something that’s absolutely incredible and beautiful. “Crocodile” mirrors a lot of the 90’s. There’s some homages to the grunge scene here along with some of the more pop-oriented stuff. This groove is much more mellow than the previous “Duke” and is a little less structured. The song is short and quick, and it gets swept out from underneath you when you least expect it.
The much more fast paced and rock oriented “Threads” comes in out of nowhere and just hits you in the face with loud and heavy bass notes. The tune is joyful and filled with a recurring riff that is abundant with jubilance and accompanies the sweet vocals with ease.
The mood rapidly shifts with “Amphibian.” The song is more melancholy and has a hazy dream-like aura surrounding it. “Amphibian” is a nice break from the rest of the album, and it allows the listener to see that the duo is capable of doing something that is soothing, yet badass as well. The edgy guitar adds a nice rough edge around the calming “ahhhs” throughout.
To close out the EP we have a much more emotional and self-reflecting tune that coils around your heart and makes it ache with each chord. “Carbon” takes a sharp turn from the rest of the album, and brings on a different sound that is unique to the duo. The song is a representation of who and what they truly are. It is evident that this is the EP where they have really found themselves, their sound and the words that they want to spread throughout.
Finding new music is like finding buried treasure. It’s exhilarating and no matter how much you hear about what you’re going to get, it’s never what you expect. Tuff Love is a great little treasure that I have discovered. They are soulful, talented and bring about so many different emotions throughout each listen. I only hope that these gals make it out to the States sometime soon, so I can see them first hand.
3/5