Tereu Tereu's All That Keeps Us Together
Apparently, what keeps us together is mid-'90s D.C. rock
It’s just not as easy to find a major seventh chord in the D.C. music scene as it used to be. Those bright and slightly jazzy harmonies—whether they were played on guitar, keyboard, or merely alluded to on the bass guitar—were a characteristic part of the District’s music scene during the late '90s. Even the noisiest, most overtly punk bands were willing to cram one or two of them into a song, if only to make their Cro-Magnon bashing sound a tad more distinctive. And, to be sure, they had a charm.
As it turns out, that sound hasn’t disappeared entirely. It just drove south for an hour to Fredericksburg, Va., and fell into the hands of Tereu Tereu, who performs tonight at DC9. The quartet’s recently completed album, All That Keeps Us Together, brings back the sophisticated harmonies of yesteryear. And what worked for Dismemberment Plan, Beauty Pill, Faraquet, and, really, anybody who put out a 7-inch record 10 years ago, still works well today. “Cage Was Right” glides by on a breezy bed of Rhodes piano chords and a vocal harmony that isn’t afraid to stack another tone onto those triads.
Of course, this isn’t the only ’90s trope that Tereu Tereu has hauled out of the closet: The group squeeze in some math rock changes, some quick stop-start fake outs, and, most daringly, the indie-rock trumpet. That last one—a most vile and wheezy novelty utilized by D.C. bands of yore such as Hoover and Corm—is used particularly well here, mainly because Tereu Tereu’s horn player possesses a basic command over his instrument. It adds a tasteful and melancholy color to the record’s title track.
During the dark ages, monks held onto the knowledge of the classical era and kept it safe until it was useful once again, and on All That Keeps Us Together, Tereu Tereu is doing a similar courtesy for a certain beloved flavor of local music. Way down there in Fredericksburg, the band is relishing that tight, rhythmic, and slightly jazzy sound in safekeeping until the District is ready to have it back. But at this rate, once Tereu Tereu gets a few more records under its belt, the band will have improved so much on the original formula that it won't belong to D.C. anymore. They'll have full ownership.
