Tavis E. Triance & The Natural Way

Tavis E. Triance & The Natural Way are a multi-faceted project springing from the mind of singer songwriter Tavis E. Triance, formerly of the Royal Mountain Band and Spoon River. It harnesses his love of themes of darkness, absurdity and the unbridled madness of men, and imbues it with a lyricism and a swagger.

Tavis’s idiosyncratic vocals call to mind Bob Dylan as a tired cop in some old late night movie, Mick Jagger reeling off Randy Newman tunes, Dan Bejar as balladeer, or Cat Stevens on a quaalude binge.

These songs gained shape and substance in the wet haze of a west coast winter, prompting Triance to reach out to his East Coast musical contingent. The wildly talented Brad Barr of Barr Brothers fame produced and participated in the recording of what would quickly become a cross continental album. Other friends were asked for their ideas and for their input and still other friends came on board: There was Jeffrey Louch,a key member of both The Royal Mountain Band and Spoon River piloting what can only be described as a cockpit of vintage synth sounds. As always, there was the indomitable Jason Kent bringing his ear for arrangement and sun kissed harmony. There was Seamus Cowan also of Spoon River and formerly of The High Dials teamed up with Mark “Bucky” Wheaton keeping rhythm and low end glued to the floorboards.

Naturally, these players helped to fully realize Tavis E. Triance & The Natural Way, lending Triance’s songs a musicality and orchestration that call to mind Steely Dan playing songs from B-side Bad Finger or Pink Floyd cataloguing tunes from Tonight’s the Night.

What is the culmination of all this ado? It is both the songbird & the high-rise window: ‘A Brief Respite From the Terror of Dying’ — an album that delivers exactly what it promises.