From alternative pop-rap to indie-folk and country, Tucker Pillsbury (better known as Role Model) is no stranger to a genre change. Released in August, his latest album “Chuck Timely and The Hourglass” takes listeners on a new adventure, a vintage Americana sound inspired by the likes of Jackson Browne, The Rolling Stones, and Dire Straits, among others.
In the album, Pillsbury takes on the persona of Chuck Timely, a character of his own making who he calls, “A little bit pathetic in a charming way,” in a Rolling Stone interview. The theme throughout the album is the passing of time and the up and down journey of being single, and we are taken through many genres that Role Model has not experimented with before, namely yacht rock and vintage piano ballads.
Pillsbury starts off the album with the short “Chuck’s Mantra,” a track full of encouraging lyricism such as “I am deserving of something real / something true, someday soon” juxtaposed with an expectation that Chuck’s life will change for the better soon. It is a stark beginning to the album, with the second repetition of the verses having an almost gospel-music sound.
Lead single “High Hopes 3000” encompasses the album’s hopeful Americana sound, a song about hoping for love and wondering if finding that relationship or falling into love is truly the thing that could change his life. The lyric “Does love come around or does one come around to it?” is the overarching theme of the album, tying in well to the subsequent tracks.
The next two tracks, “Song Is All You Get” and “Love I You” are upbeat, catchy, danceable tracks about having a little more feeling for someone who’s meant to be just a one-night stand. “Love I You” has been an instant hit online, and Role Model has taken to choosing someone from the crowd at his concerts to recite the banter from the bridge alongside him.
After that comes two songs with a simpler sound: “Chasing Midnight” and “Good Thing” are both much softer songs than their previous upbeat counterparts, but help to create that well rounded feel of the album while adding in themes of wanting to turn something into a relationship that never could be, or being wary of someone that could be something good. In “Good Thing,” Pillsbury uses the lyrics “Will I regret saying these words? / Cause I made a bet / The day that we met that someone gets hurt” to display the struggle of belief that something could actually last, playing into the “timely” themes of the album.
“Joy” and “Service Receipt” take us back to that upbeat feel, with the sounds of a song you might hear on a dive bar jukebox. “Joy” brings back those gospel-like sounds heard in the album’s opener, with a chantable bridge and cheerful choruses. “Service Receipt” is reminiscent of his sophomore album “Kansas Anymore,” with a lot more acoustic sounds and lyrics about longing for a relationship that once was.
“Honeydew” stands alone in the album as a simple acoustic ballad with a much slower pace and lyrics that feel the most personal. It’s an assurance of love and a connection between two people, as heard through the lyrics “I see myself inside of you / Someone who paints themself in blue / And thinks the world is out for blood.”
Contrasting “Honeydew”’s emotional simplicity, “Stain” begins the last leg of the album with an upbeat sound paired with stark flute sounds as well as electric sitar. It’s a song about a hard to remove emotional impact of a past relationship, and leads well into the next track “The Wedding,” a sweet tune about realizing at a wedding that you want to be loved and have that kind of devotion in your life.
The album finishes off with “Harmony,” a big band song with a larger feel than a lot of the songs in the middle section of the record, bringing us back to sounds like “Joy” and “Song Is All You Get.” It’s a hopeful track about letting go of the past and moving on from things that were holding him back, shown in the lyrics “Whatever kept me awake last night / is finally giving me one night free.”
Overall, this album has a great feel and a sound that we don’t hear much of in today’s pop scene. Role Model created a refreshing sound that can make anyone smile and dance along with a great message: let go of the past that’s holding you down, because love will find you when the time is right.
