From Louder Than War: Deep Tunnel Project S/T
Album Review
Deep Tunnel Project: Deep Tunnel Project
LP | CD | DL
Post Hardcore heroes Tar form a new band, 29 years later, with added Silkworm and Heavy Seas members and it’s very much the sum of those parts.
What is never finished will never be done…
Tar were ace. Particularly their albums Jackson (Amphetamine Reptile) and Toast (Touch & Go) – but all their output is stellar and worth checking out if you’re curious. Known at the time for the clang of their custom metal guitars, monotone vocals and grinding riffs, they stood aloft, alongside Cows, Helmet and Unsane as top-tier Noise Rock originators. Their records remain ageless.
Tar Box, a long overdue boxset re-package of all their earlier material was released in 2021, but otherwise, they have been silent since splitting up in 1995. In 2021, John Mohr and Mike Greenless got back together again and started to write. The two had played in Tar, and before that in Blatant Dissent – a pretty-damn-marvelous but more straightforward, Punk/Hardcore outfit. Soon they hooked up with Jeff Dean who plays guitar in a host of Chicago bands including The Bomb and Heavy Seas. Lastly, they pulled in old Touch & Go comrade Tim Midyett, previously of Silkworm, to join them on bass. Deep Tunnel Project had become a thing.
DTP’s moniker comes from a huge civil engineering project that began beneath Chicago’s metropolis in the mid-1970s that is still not completed. It is still being worked on. It’s an ethos that the band are proud of, as much as they see the futility of it. From start to end, the lyrics deal uniquely with Chicago’s infrastructural challenges.
It’s clear in the street-map poetry of The Grid: “Archer, Elston, Clybourn, Lincoln… Archer, Ogden, Milwaukee, Clark Street…” – all avenues and streets of Chicago’s grid. It’s there too in the paean to unfinished engineering, Dry Spell: “To fill the hole that’s left from Wilmette to Calumet, you made it turn. For generations, we’ve never learned. You’re so dry…”.
Their love and dedication to the civic administration of the City of Big Shoulders is obvious and admirable in its detail.
The band describes this album as a “Chicago Rock” record and they are keen to embrace the same mantra that haunts the real-world tunnel construction; to keep working, in the knowledge they won’t finish what they have started.
Chicago through and through. It’s work.
The tracks Connector, Elysian Fields and penultimate track Dry Spell all use the same refrain “What is never finished will never be done…”. Such is the band’s preoccupation with unfinished business.
I love that they re-used it on multiple songs. It’s a theme. Mohr’s songwriting on the album is recognisable as an evolution of his previous work. Opening track Connector, and its follow up, Absolute Zero sound like Tar. Connector, especially, has that clanging bass tone that’s associated with them.
But don’t think of DTP as some kind of retro band trading on past “glories”. Yes, you can hear Tar in the swinging monotony of the drums, vocals and guitars. Of course you can. But Tim Dean’s influence is keenly felt all over the record. He rocks the band up – beyond Mohr’s traditional workman-like riffage – with the occasional guitar solo and his loosely melodic playing style that recalls the rolling thrum of Crazy Horse in places.
The album is a balance between those influences and Tim Midyett’s obvious sonic input – bringing in a lo-fi, downbeat element, reminiscent of his previous work in Silkworm, to some of the songs. The Pavement-esque Chapter Verse Overture and gloomy lowlight When I Hit The Ground add an equilibrium to the flow of the LP.
The tonal change of pace that Tylett brings to proceedings adds an atmosphere and texture to the band’s sound. It elevates them beyond anything as easily categorisable as Noise Rock. There’s more to them than that. Every track has its hooks – and there’s not a duff one on the entire record. Nothing sounds samey. Nothing sounds flamboyant, either.
I’m not familiar with Comedy Minus One Records, so I don’t know if the attention they’ve given the quality of the packaging and pressing is typical of them or not. Amongst other things, they’ve handled the re-releases of some of Silkworm’s back catalogue. They know what they’re doing.
The matt sleeve, photography and print are all tactile and clean. The vinyl itself is weighty and black as pitch, with unique labels containing photos of the band. It’s an attentive detail that feels nicely at odds with the no-frills essence of the record itself.
The lyric insert sheet is a nice surprise. When I think of Mohr’s previous work, I think of Amrep’s minimalist ethos. A white inner bag and that’s your lot. No surplus. However, this time we get to bask in the glory of John’s greying quiff and battered aluminium telecaster in the couple of photos that add panache to the insert.
Altogether, as a long-term Tar fan, I’m really loving the record. It brings enough of the past into the present to provide latch points to the listener. The real beauty of the thing, though, is provided by the depth that the other musicians introduce. Together, they create something new, relevant and interesting, regardless of your attachment to the various members’ illustrious history.
Deep Tunnel Project’s drawl is dour, and they’re right – it totally feels like a record that is the product of its environment. It’s blue-collar rock. If The Boss had come from somewhere windier than New Jersey a decade or two later, he could quite easily have been addressing the same topics as DTP.
If you want to get hold of the vinyl, be quick. The label has already run out of stock, so start digging ASAP.
Just don’t start something you can’t finish.