On the Culture Front: Music from the Underground, Part One

Father and son duo Richard and Harry Grace along with bandmate Dave Needham make up Tumbler, a trio that barrels through several musical genres on their debut album, "You Said." The album cover features teenage Harry catapulting himself off a cliff in Portugal, and in many ways, this collection of a dozen tracks feels like a jumping off point. The opening guitar riff on "Dead Man's Bones" begins with a nod to Chopin's Funeral March and only gets stranger. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a corpse during an autopsy while the music is reminiscent of a broad folk anthem in the vein of the late Pete Seeger. This contrast emphasizes the tension between the whimsical and morbid elements and ties the song together with the chorus: "Roll me over again. I've got nothing to loose, nothing to gain."

"Break or Fall" and "Bueller" have slick power riffs that bring to mind mainstream rock bands from the early aughts. Both songs are strongest in the chorus. "Bueller" opens with an acoustic guitar verse that feels a bit out of place with the song's central pop-driven riff. A few songs like "Businessman Blues" feel too generic. Tumbler is at their best with "London Girl," a simple folk ballad about two people who fall in love despite having nearly nothing in common. It feels like the lovechild of Elvis Costello and Amanda Palmer and is the most fully-realized song on the album.

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