thurlowood and the pretty nightmares of "DISCONTINUE NORMAL PROGRAM" - and the hyper artistic "Reverie"

"it could of happened"

thurlowood is the musical project of Andrew Thurlow Wood (singer and keyboardist for the guitar /electro powerpop group Bridges & Powerlines) and the conceptual "DISCONTINUE NORMAL PROGRAM" is inspired by the unbelievable, horrific history of nuclear Armageddon. It is the sobering truth that the United States, a supposed moral beacon, still remains to be the one and only nation in the world to have used a nuclear weapon on another nation. I sometimes wonder if generations to follow will slowly forget this fact as they lose themselves in some future equivalent of Fortnite Battle Royale (don't get me started). 

While I like to express myself in these reviews or commentaries, I feel compelled to let the press notes do some of the speaking in terms of such a monumental project, one that Wood took seriously by researching the historical documents that would inform the songs on this album.

“I can go into my office and pick up the telephone, and in 25 minutes 70 million people will be dead.”
-Richard Nixon

"Despite its doomsday subject, this record is not speculative but rooted in historic events. Yet at its core is a warning about leaving the existential threat unchecked, and passing it to our children. From the US’s secret plans for continuity of government to the president as “madman,” from bunker survivalists to Hiroshima survivors, from the false 1983 missile alert that nearly led to annihilation but for a Russian savior to a more recent alarm in Hawaii—each is explored across the album’s ten songs."

The song that introduced me to thurlowood is Reverie. With it's Farfisa-eque organ, synth waves, monster bass and drums framing Woods echoed falsetto vox, there is an almost cross generational tone. Like silent film fodder meets Doors-ish psychedelia meets post rock Radiohead put through an atomic blender. It is both menacing and hyper artistic. I love the images it casts. 

While this is not an album review I did peruse some of the other songs and listen to some in total. It is an impressive sort of opera and the pivotal track Madman is a disconcerting new wave / power pop masterpiece. In some ways it feels like an audacious theme song for a dark comedy about the Madman (Tricky Dick). 

-Robb Donker Curtius








THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:


“I can go into my office and pick up the telephone, and in 25 minutes 70 million people will be dead.”
-Richard Nixon

DISCONTINUE NORMAL PROGRAM by thurlowood may be the first synth pop record, or at least the catchiest, about the history of nuclear Armageddon.

Despite its doomsday subject, this record is not speculative but rooted in historic events. Yet at its core is a warning about leaving the existential threat unchecked, and passing it to our children. From the US’s secret plans for continuity of government to the president as “madman,” from bunker survivalists to Hiroshima survivors, from the false 1983 missile alert that nearly led to annihilation but for a Russian savior to a more recent alarm in Hawaii—each is explored across the album’s ten songs.

Weaving influences like ANOHNI, Radiohead, MGMT and Mitski, thurlowood is Andrew Thurlow Wood, singer and keyboardist for guitar/electro powerpop group Bridges & Powerlines.