Single released 30/04/2007

Hello and welcome to 'Freest Man', or Tilly & the Wall unshod, as it could be deemed.  Yes, this next single from the Omaha girl-boy-girl-boy-girl combo is their first tap-free zone. Gone is Jamie Williams trademark clatter of metal blakey on road sign (that's how she does it, folks!), to be replaced by the appealing primitive beat of an Argos drum machine in all its claptrap glory.
 
'Freest Man' sounds like something from a John Hughes movie (ask your Mum), all optimistically strummed guitars, sweet female harmonies and jaunty pop innocence. But scratch a little under the sheeny surfaces and something fascinating is revealed.  For 'Freest Man' conceals a dark heart. 
 
It may be de rigeur for bands to think you have to emote to the point of spontaneous combustion in order to carry a lyrical punch, but Tilly & the Wall appear not to concur.  'Freest Man' balances its deliberate and charming musical insouciance against a lyric of near suicidal anguish. The Freest Man of the title is looking for the palace of wisdom down the well-trodden road of excess.  He doesn't find it and instead gets "lost in his chemicals".
 
Kianna Alarid's strong-yet-tremulous - almost Dolly-esque - lead vocal guides us through this real-life pickle like it was primetime Blondie, or a throwback to the Shangri-las singing their songs of doomed outsiders. And yet as non-time-specific as its nostalgia feels, 'Freest Man' emerges as nothing short of pure pop for now people.
 
Thus far a lot of people have tended to think of Tilly & the Wall as "that band with tap dancer". Not any more.  'Freest Man' and 'Bottoms of Barrels', the album from which it is taken, reveal Tilly to be some of the most expansive songwriters working in America today. Smart, edgy and universally accessible; just what popular music deserves to be in 2007.
 

• The Freest Man
• Sing Songs Along (Hot Chip Remix)