A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
My record collection
#024: Tuatara - East of the Sun (CD)
When I first started the AHFoW discography I created some criteria about what should be included, although I sometimes strayed. Criteria #1 was that it had to have a direct relationship to a former member of Galaxie 500. That meant that I didn’t include the side project that Luna’s Justin Harwood was involved in ‘Tuatara’ - or at least didn’t include it until East of the Sun, their fourth or fifth album, and a record with no input from Justin†. However, Dean Wareham does put in a vocal appearance on two tracks.
Tuatara seem to be a band that the world struggles to describe - Wikipedia call them an instrumental music group which was I guess pretty much true up until this album. East of the Sun (and it’s partner West of the Moon) are most definitley not instrumental - inlcuding lots of guest vocalists of which Dean is one. I think the singers probably make Tuatara sound a little more… conventional… than those earlier albums.
Other words that turn up in Tuatara reviews are jazz and fusion and Americana and soft rock and soundtrack - but I suspect that just means that reviewers don’t know where to file them.
They’re def better than that Pitchfork review you might’ve come across suggests!
Here are Dean’s contributions, Trouble Rides In and Your Ghost Town:
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/163
- Artist: Tuatara
- Title: East of the Sun
- Notes:
- Packaging: Jewel case
- Format: CD
- Bought on Discogs for £2.99
† Another of Justin’s side-projects will be included later in the series though.