The Onion

April 27, 2006

They say lightning never strikes the same spot twice, but we’re glad to report that Thunder in the Valley definitely does. The local quintet’s new A Long, Long Walk lives up to the promise of its 2004 self-titled debut, and better yet, builds on it. Though still rooted in the swooning sounds of early 20th-century vaudeville music, TITV boldly ignores genre boundaries in pursuit of the perfect song. Each of the 12 on Long Walk are stamped with distinct personalities—the Joplin-esque “The Wealthy Skeleton” segues into the doo-wop chorus of “All the Things,” and the rousing “Altar” leads into the sing-along “Allistair’s Bride.” Tom Waits is a clear influence—any band that dabbles in an old-school cabaret vibe these days is a child of Waits—but a more fruitful comparison might be the XTC side project Dukes of Stratosphear, which woozily and charmingly took bits and pieces of various pop formats and made them its own. On Long Walk’s numerous high points, that’s exactly what TITV does.