Expectations versus reality. Unbridled optimism versus rugged lived experience. Theory versus Practice.
This is the conflict at the center of Tophouse’s dueling new EPs.
Theory, released in May 2024, brims with hope, optimism, and the unshakeable knowledge that hard circumstances and people can change for the better.
The new EP, Practice is different. While the band’s intricate arrangements and high-energy performances carry through, the subject matter and outlook of these new songs stands in stark contrast to the upbeat and hopeful worldview of Theory.
“We didn’t start out writing these songs with a two-part set of EPs in mind,” says lead vocalist Joe Larson. “But when they were written and we were looking at how to arrange them on an album, the clear delineation of themes became pretty apparent. The idealistic, hopeful worldview that we can all strive for in Theory, up against the hard reality that life doesn’t always work out the way we want in Practice.”
“I Don’t Wanna Move On” is a stark meditation on coming to terms with separation. The chorus repeats, like a rosary, swelling to a frenetic burst of cathartic acoustic energy.
“Meteor”, bolstered by lush string arrangements and Western electric guitar, is about crashing and burning from self-sabotage. The Western elements in this song, themselves a rarer color palette for Tophouse, are contrasted by a vaguely sci-fi string track.
On “Waste”, the band confronts the consequences and loneliness of living with past mistakes. The song’s vivid imagery places the listener in a frigid, stark, and lonely moment asking the haunting question – is every experience worth having, or are some experiences worth never having at all?
Tophouse, comprised of Larson (lead vocals, guitar, banjo), Jesse Davis (guitar, mandolin, percussion, backing vocals), William Cook (violin, backing vocals), and Andy LaFave (piano, backing vocals), formed in 2016 in Missoula, Montana, where Cook and Davis met in the music program at the University of Montana. They began as a street performing duo, honing their craft performing instrumental originals on the streets (and empty parking garages) of Missoula. Cook soon brought Larson, a longtime friend, into the fold and the trio began recording original songs and performing up and down the stunningly beautiful Bitterroot Valley.
