Tilly And The Wall

Originating in Omaha, Nebraska’s fertile music environment, indie pop outfit Tilly and the Wall coalesced in 2001 from the remains of earlier projects, one of which was Park Avenue, the pre-Bright Eyes band fronted by Conor Oberst. The group attracted early underground attention through its singular percussion setup, which substituted dancer Jamie Williams’s amplified tap shoes for a conventional drum kit while vocalists Neely Jenkins and Kianna Alarid contributed hand percussion. Guitarist-vocalist Derek Pressnall and keyboardist Nick White, the latter a regular participant in Bright Eyes performances, completed the five-piece lineup. Working in Oberst’s basement, the band produced the six-track demo Woo!, whose circulation eventually opened doors for live dates. A subsequent 7-inch single, 7 Inch, appeared on Rue Royal Records, after which the members reconvened to prepare their debut album, slated as the first release on Team Love, the imprint Oberst founded as a sibling to Saddle Creek, for spring 2004. Two years later Bottoms of Barrels surfaced, revealing a more assured and inviting sonic character. Derek Pressnall and Jamie Williams married soon afterward, enlisting fellow indie pop act Of Montreal as their wedding band. Additional touring preceded the arrival of O in 2008, an album whose several tracks emphasized a louder, more aggressive dimension of the group. Tilly and the Wall performed an ABC song rendition on Sesame Street, and “Pot Kettle Black” achieved wider exposure through placement in television advertisements and film soundtracks. After a prolonged hiatus the band resurfaced in 2012, adopting a sharper, more forceful direction shaped by political concerns and dance-punk influences; Team Love issued the resulting album, Heavy Mood, that autumn.