Tobacco – Hot Wet and Sassy Review
Thomas Fec has a well established neo-psychedelic sound, which takes that term right to its extreme
Tobacco, the solo project of Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Thomas Fec, is a name which has turned a few heads over the last decade, particularly following last year’s collaboration with Aesop Rock for “Malibu Ken” – an experimental hip-hop album; intriguing at times but it was ultimately rather inconsistent. “Hot Wet & Sassy” now comes as the eighth release under the Tobacco moniker. Thomas Fec has a well established neo-psychedelic sound, which takes that term right to its extreme, but this extremity can often be to its detriment. However, that is not to say that we don’t find some strong tracks sprinkled throughout the album, with some moments of real beauty.
Kicking things off is lead single “Centaur Skin”, which takes us straight into the general style of the album, creating a sound rarely deviated from throughout the album – thick, dreamy, but punchy production and robotic-sounding vocals. Lyrically, Tobacco goes quite abstract here to start with but the latter half has much more reflection on his self-loathing (“Don’t even like myself/Can’t be the only, only, only, only one”). Depending on your positivity, this could be seen as him recognising that many people have these feelings about themselves, or him believing that many people also dislike him. Though it is not entirely clear, Centaur Skin really starts us off on a sombre note – not what you’d expect from an album titled “Hot Wet & Sassy”. I’d even suggest that this is the antithesis of sassy.
One benefit of the consistent production throughout this album is the way that we slip into each song seamlessly, bringing a lot of cohesion. This is particularly the case with the transition between “Pit” and “Headless to Headless”; the first minute or so of the latter plays as a strong interlude between the two, as “Headless to Headless” brings a slightly heavier guitar sound into the mix, which swirls really nicely around the outro – “It’s going to feel like shit forever”. Honestly, it was not until digging into the lyrics that I recognised at all how depressing this album is. Think of that as you will.
Once more, we slip seamlessly into another track — one of my favourites from the album, “Stabbed by a Knight”, which is the punchiest track found here. I really like the oscillation between short, noisy guitar passages and sweet, dreamy synth melodies throughout the track, providing it with a slightly more unique sound within the broader “Hot Wet & Sassy” context. I also think this showcases how Tobacco’s strengths are much more in production, with vocals used more as a backing instrument here. “Jinmenken” is another of the strongest tracks on the album, in which we get a much more rounded, conventionally structured dream-pop song about a romance fizzling out – despite the other party’s efforts. There is a lovely, sweet synth melody sprinkled over the top of the chorus, breaking through the trippy, psychedelic instrumental which follows us through the length of the track.
Unfortunately, this is then followed by the ugly, jarring “Babysitter”. The vocals sound over-produced and the urgent, noisy passages clash with their calmer counterparts, unable to compliment one another like they do on “Stabbed by a Knight”. The chorus sounds really obnoxious and repetitive – it is unfortunate that Trent Reznor’s feature ends up so disappointing.
After this, we are given three ambient instrumentals – once again playing to Tobacco’s strengths. Each manages to continue the psychedelic, dreamy vibe in a rather compelling way. For “Mythemin”, I am stretching the term “instrumental” a little, as the vocals play a minor role, obscured to be indecipherable. While the use of vocals as more of a background instrument is quite interesting, the overuse of effects on the vocals throughout this album at times goes too far, to the point where tracks are more marred than enhanced.
This is absolutely the case, for example, with “Motherfuckers 64”, where the vocals also end up a little too low in the mix during the chorus. Among this and some rather all-over-the-place instrumentals, we end up with a messy sounding track. Honestly, I’m also not particularly taken by the lyrics here either, which seem awfully angsty and immature for someone who left high school over twenty years ago: “Aw, you tried/Lost a wish/What’s your type?/Anemic”. The closer, “Perfect Shadow”, is much better though. While the vocals are still a little overcooked, the pulsating synths which carry us through the track are much more compelling, and almost feel warm. Again, the instrumentals are dreamy and psychedelic, and here they almost have a lullaby-like quality too them.
Kevin O’Donnell wrote for Vulture ten years ago that “to call Fec’s music psychedelic or experimental is an understatement”, and “Hot Wet & Sassy” is no different – absolutely meriting the praise of this statement. However, there are also several songs throughout the track list to which I am entirely indifferent, such as “ASS-TO-TRUTH” and “Body Double”. The sonic consistency of this album also ends up being a blessing and a curse, as it leads to both a very cohesive listen and condemns several songs to sound frustratingly alike. There are absolutely some real highlights here, such as “Stabbed by a Knight” and “Jimenchen”, but there also seems to be broadly a lack of maturity in this album – which is disappointing for an artist so late in his career.
