References are piling up like… Well, things that pile up a lot (I got nothing) when listening to Tommy Tokyo’s second album, ‘Smear Your Smiles Back On’. Arcade Fire, Pink Floyd and Lou Reed all needs mentioning, but only as means to describe the Norwegian’s psychedelic neo-folk.

Following the brilliantly titled 2007 debut, ‘Octopusdrunk And Arms To Prove It’, ‘Smear Your Smiles Back On’ almost take the shape of a confessional with Tommy Tokyo wrestling his own and our world’s demons. As when he addresses his guilt towards his mother and a great love in beautiful Lou Reed’esque piano ballad ‘Somersault’ and ‘A Great Challenge’ (which won’t stop reminding me of Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’) respectively.

Freaky rock sermon ‘Dead Upon A Chair’ and grandiose anthem ‘In The Machine’ are a combined assault on the superficial uniformity that has become law in our society (and those accepting it), dictated by TV and commercials and leaving little room for originals. ‘Abraham’s Hat’ is a venomous attack on George W. Bush and the US World Police, while the stream-of-consciousness rambling in excellent Arcade Fire-like first single ‘Derail And Demise’ is very much up for interpretation.

With these references it could seem that Tommy Tokyo & Starving For My Gravy are but leftovers from a magical musical buffet, but the 37 year old father of four knows how to walk the line between inspiration and rip-off, creating his very own universe lit by good songs and his amazing vocal which constantly interchange between fragile confession and manic desperation. Now, all there’s left for you to do is to invest and prepare to ‘Smear Your Smiles Back On’.

Genre: Alternative/Neo-folk
Who: Tommy Tokyo & Starving For My Gravy
Title: Smear Your Smiles Back On
Label: Warner Music
Year: 2008
Country: Norway
Language: English
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Recommended tracks:
Exploitation Picket Fence – Somersault – Abraham’s Hat – Derail And Demise – In The Machine – Let Us Pray