Tweaker - Call the Time Eternity

Artist: Tweaker
Title: Call the Time Eternity
Genre: Pop/electronic
Producer: Chris Vrenna, Jesse Hall
Label: Metropolis Records

Being a fan of Tweaker, means allowing yourself to venture down the dark, often claustrophobic, rabbit hole that is Chris Vrenna’s musical persona. On Call the Time Eternity, Vrenna and collaborator, Jesse Hall continue to design beautifully desolate landscapes inhabited by awkward and damaged characters. The first two Tweaker albums, The Attraction to All Things Uncertain (2001) and 2a.m. Wakeup Call (2004) were both inspired by subjects of paintings that Vrenna found interesting. It is easier to imagine the damaged soul at the center of Call the Time Eternity is Chris Vrenna himself.

The former drummer for Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, producer, composer, and remix artist has had it more than a little rough the last few years. A divorce and the death of a close family member while in the midst of a crazy touring/recording cycle left Vrenna raw and wrung out. He allows the … Eternity listener to step inside of that bleak process of him facing the pain and anger of loss and then to witness the progress into the marginally better days ahead. The album opens in a fashion familiar to Tweaker listeners; a gentle, yet institutionally cold, voice coaching or coaxing the patient. “If you need help, go back a step” is the topic of the session today. And so it goes; the journey from ‘Nothing’ to ‘Fine’ with SPOILER ALERT, a Phil Collins cover added for wickedly good measure.
Simple, sparse musical lines and complex emotional corners are the major elements of Call the Time Eternity. If you are willing to face your own issues and in search of an uneasy path to redemption, Chris Vrenna will gladly take you along with him.

Dave Buzard