Psych-garage solo band King Tuff (a.k.a. Kyle Thomas) has released “The Other,” his first new song since the 2014 album Black Moon Spell. This isn’t the kooky and boisterous King Tuff of songs like “Headbanger” and “Alone & Stoned”; instead, it’s a contemplative, synth-driven composition about a spiritual journey along a dusty freeway. Here’s how Thomas explained the concept of “The Other” in a statement:
It’s a song about hitting rock bottom. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do anymore, but I still had this urge—this feeling—like there was this possibility of something else I could be doing… and then I just followed that possibility. To me, that’s what songwriting, and art in general, is about. You’re chasing something, there is something out there calling to you and you’re trying to get at it. “The Other” is basically where songs come from, it’s the hidden world, it’s the mystery. It’s the invisible hand that guides you whenever you make something. It’s the thing I had to rediscover—the sort of voice I had to follow—to bring me back to making music again in a way that felt true and good.
It’s not clear if being “back to making music again” means there’s more new King Tuff on the horizon, but it does seem likely. “The Other” arrives with a slow-moving video directed by Cameron Dutra; watch and listen below.
