It was a Thursday in New York, the first afternoon in what’s becoming a most wondrous month of October! Four men from Alabama whom together, call themselves Thomas Function, strolled into our living room to share with us a collection of songs from their new, non swine flu-related sophomore full-length, In The Valley of Sickness. They ate sandwiches. They drank beer. THEY BREATHED FIRE. WE FILMED. Oh! What a fantastic month this continues to be!

Like a sea shanty ringing out over a haunted harbor town on the Gulf of Mexico, Thomas Function’s “Belly of the Beast” is as drunkenly catchy as mononucleosis in a freshman dorm. Bouncy, both in its rhythm and the melody of the insanely sweet keyboard riff, “Belly of the Beast” is the sort of instantly enjoyable tune that can only be described by one word, “pop.” True, its not Miley, but it could easily sit beside Ray Davies circa ‘74 and engage him, and maybe Ringo, in a conversation about song structure and uneasy joy. Come to think of it, Ringo may be the subconscious inspiration for Thomas Function, who, like the famed Richard Starky, do the unthinkable; play inherently straight forward pop songs that even the grooviest, chicest, most apathetic bohemian douche can bob his or her head to. An accomplishment in and of itself.

Thomas Function, Belly of the Beast

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