"Stripped, beaten, naked and afraid"

To follow Australian artist T.K. Bollinger is an on and off matter. In 2021 he commited himself to release an EP with four songs every month during a whole year, in total 48 songs, read more here (opens in a new window). After that, seemingly no activity and silent as the grave. And now, out of nowhere, comes two releases (!). The first is a rerelease of a Death Roots Syndicate album, "Stripped Beaten Naked and Afraid", that collected some of his early acoustic tracks and demos. It was originally released in December 2014. Somehow it went unnoticed (at least for me). The other release is his latest project, "Imperfect Spaces", a concept album. The albums will be released on October 11th and 31th, respectively. In this blog post we focus on "Stripped Beaten Naked and Afraid". This album has absolutely nothing to do with the reality show "Naked and Afraid" where two survivalists are given the task of surviving a stay in the wilderness. Nudity is blurred. "Stripped Beaten Naked and Afraid" is recorded before Shy Ghosts", "What's Left Now You Are Dead To Me", "The Tighter You Hold Onto Something The More Likely It Will Fall Apart In Your Hands", "The Child Who Does Not Feel the Comfort of the Village will Burn it Down to Feel its Warmth". The songs are crafted with a light touch without any doom and gloom. No curlicues here. Some songs are fully developed, while others would benefit from more work. Best songs are "Dead Man's Clothes", "The Closer We Get", "Organ Pipes Of Stone", "Where The Dead Men Lie! Part 1", "The Things That Breed Denial" and "When I Met Longing".