TVOD “Goldfish” (art by Secret Cobra Information)
Where is TVOD and who the fuck is in the band right now!? Those are some valid questions, for which we here at Full Time Aesthetic definitely do not intend to provide the answers. Fresh off their US-Canadian tour, and hot on the heels of their last two singles, “Alien” and “Mantis,” the Brooklyn collective, with its oft rotating cast of characters, has been hard at work, and we support the group’s nonstop hustle. A recent homecoming party at Alphaville means the band is back (for now) making their rounds at all their usual Brooklyn haunts, and they’ve just released their newest track “Goldfish.” Along with the song, they’ve also dropped its hellishly demented animated music video directed by Scott Palazzo into our laps and it feels like its own personal nightmare just for us.
“Goldfish” immediately cuts the legs out from underneath you with a thick punchy bassline that carries you through from start to finish. Lead vocalist and songwriter, Tyler Wright opens the track with the ominous line “Ted killed my goldfish. Fed her too many pills. And that’s shit’s hard to swallow. He always knew it would kill.” From there we spiral downward into the underworld as the hairy guitars and gain-soaked keys grab us by our ankles and drag us deep into the pits and bowel of the beast.
TVOD live (photos by Kate Hoos)
Wright admits that there may have been some misdirected blame in the lyrics, but the damage was already done, and the song was just too good a catch at that point to throw back, amiright? He explains, “our guitar player Jason and I were messing around before band practice one day and started hammering out these very primal bass & drum beats. I couldn’t help but use my goldfish ‘Phoebe’ who had passed the day before as the writing inspiration for this song. I felt guilty about her biting the big one under my watch so I decided to write a song in which my friend Ted is actually is the one that murders her. RIP Phoebe. I blame Ted.”
TVOD has built their reputation on consistently delivering a safe and fun outlet for the underdogs to let loose, and give them a party to call their own. Building upon that very foundation however, there’s an uneasy tension and sense of urgency throughout these newer tracks that get me really excited for what the gang might be cooking up next. Listen to the new song below.