Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

New Music Monday: Torres

Dave Sanford
By

new music monday torres
Sprinter, Torres’ new album comes outTORRES-sprinter-1500x1500 Tuesday (May 5) on Partisan Records. The album is Mackenzie Scott’s second, following her 2013 debut record, also released under the name Torres.

The album makes for a challenging listen as it reaches noisier extremes than her 2013 debut, but Sprinter is well worth it. The album is an unflinching self-examination both spiritually and musically.

Related Videos

Though Torres has been compared to PJ Harvey before, Sprinter actually sees Robert Ellis and Ian Olliver reunite 23 years after the release of Harvey’s debut, Dry. The two make for a strong rhythm section, supported by Portishead’s Adrian Utley, whose guitar riffs and synthesizers linger in the background on Sprinter.

TORRES - Strange Hellos

Scott describes the album as a “space cowboy” record and cites influences ranging from Funkadelic and Nirvana to Ray Bradbury and Joan Didion. Of those Nirvana is the clearest sonic influence on Sprinter; the album sounds like something of a middle ground between In Utero and the grunge band’s MTV Unplugged session. Didion’s influence is clear as well in Torres’ lyrics. Anxious feelings run through the album, along with a sense of alienation. Scott grew up in Macon, Georgia, but recorded Sprinter in the United Kingdom (Bridport and Bristol, specifically). Before making the decision to record in the UK, Scott moved first to Nashville, where felt like an outsider, and then to New York, where she is currently based.

TORRES - Sprinter

Scott’s ambivalent relationship to her Baptist upbringing in the Deep South plays a major role on Sprinter. Scott says, “I wanted something that very clearly stemmed from my Southern conservative roots but that sounded futuristic and space-y at the same time.” “Cowboy Guilt” is the Sprinter‘s clearest embodiment of that sentiment as the song contrasts George W. Bush parodies and wearing your Sunday best with a mechanical melody.

Torres "Cowboy Guilt" / Out Of Town Films

With its jumps from noisy extremes to softer, acoustic songs Sprinter may not make for the easiest first listen, but it rewards future listens with strong lyrics and melodies. Those same jumps that are jarring the first time are much more thematically appropriate after a second listen.

Sprinter is available on Amazon, iTunes, and through Partisan Records.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
New Music Preview: Mavis Staples, Morrissey, and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Morrissey Getty Images

Welcome to the Manual's new monthly album preview column. Below you'll find the three records releasing in November that we can't wait to hear!
Mavis Staples - If All I Was Was Black
Mavis Staples - "If All I Was Was Black"

"We're not loving one another the way we should," notes Mavis Staples in a press release for the forthcoming If All I Was Was Black, written and produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame. She adds, "Some people are saying we need to make the world great again, but we never lost our greatness. We just strayed into division."

Read more
Olivia Chaney & The Decemberists Celebrate Traditional British Folk Music As Offa Rex
Offa Rex

The influence of the British folk revival on Colin Meloy and The Decemberists comes full circle in the band's latest project: recording and performing with English singer and multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney as Offa Rex. Titled The Queen of Hearts, the group's first album is a pitch-perfect tribute to '70s British folk rock filled with traditional English, Scottish, and Irish songs interpreted with electric guitar and a touch of psychedelia.

Chaney's voice is an important part of that interpretation. Both powerful and warbling, it recalls Sandy Denny in its clarity and expansiveness, but remains unique nonetheless. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" needs only the drone of a harmonium backing her. The result is a starkly beautiful take on the classic song. "Bonny May," on the other hand, is bright with a bouncy, ear-catching melody. The song runs through its six-and-a-half minutes at a brisk pace, telling the story of a lover who goes off to (and eventually returns from) war.

Read more
New Music: Tanzania Albinism Collective
White African Power by Tanzania Albinism Collective

In 2016, producer and author Ian Brennan (best known for producing Tinariwen’s Grammy-winning album, Tassili, as well as the critically-acclaimed Zomba Prison Project releases) traveled to the far north of Tanzania, to an isolated island on Lake Victoria called Ukerewe. Because of its remoteness, Ukerewe is now a haven for many Tanzanians living with albinism. Albinism, of course, is a disorder most commonly characterized by a complete lack of pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes.

People with albinism in Tanzania and eastern Africa face enormous challanges because of the way they look. Some East Africans believe those with albinism to be "demonic" in nature and that their body parts can transmit magical powers if made into tinctures or potions. This has led not only to the ostracizing of those with the condition (like on the island of Ukerewe), but to grisly killings, often involving dismemberment.

Read more