Teiger

Meet the atmospheric London trio who struggle to be pigeonholed

“It is very much soundscaping and atmosphere above melody.”

It is hard to believe Talie Rose Eigeland had barely played guitar or sung before launching Teiger around two years ago, given the depth and conviction of their self-titled debut album. “It’s happened very fast in the grand scheme of things,” she admits.
Very fast indeed. The London-based trio have quickly developed a strong reputation as ones to watch, with their dark, ethereal undertones standing out in an industry often jam-packed with cookie-cutter acts.

Completed by drummer Jon Steele and bassist Phillip Eldridge-Smith, Teiger have copped comparisons to acts like Jefferson Airplane to Tool – while Eigeland herself has highlighted Opeth, Radiohead and PJ Harvey as influences.
But be ready to chuck those comparisons out the window; the trio are already carving their own path, indie-flecked but adventurous and otherworldly, which is underpinned by organic songwriting where whatever comes out, comes out.
“We’re not the next X,” Eigeland says. “We can’t really be categorised. “We’re more of a percussive band than a melody band, I think. Even though the lyrics come first, it is very much soundscaping and atmosphere above melody. There’s no verse/chorus, or very little verse/chorus. We don’t really think that way.”

The roots of the band, meanwhile, stem from Eigeland and Steele knowing each other from blues jams. “I always admired his drumming and we sort of became friends, and then he heard a couple of my very early demos,” Eigeland explains. “He offered his drum services which made me think ‘oh, there’s something here’. And then we recruited the bass player and it all started happening very quickly.
“Our influences are all very, very different and I think they come out indirectly – in colours and moods, not so much in the way we actually play or write the music.”

One key element of the band’s distinctive, stripped-back sound is Eigeland’s electric acoustic guitar – her “baby” – which has led to the band landing unusual descriptions such as ‘quiet metal’.
“I am a one guitar pony,” she laughs. “It’s an unusual blend – you have the physicality of an acoustic but you can bend the string like an electric. And we use it in quite a percussive way, which works really well with the rhythm section.”

With Teiger’s debut album only landing last year, the trio appear to be impressively forward-thinking – the second one is already written and the third is in the works too.

The follow-up to //Teiger// will see the band investigate their prog flourishes further, with darker and heavier moods.
Eigeland knows this will push the group further away from their commercial appeal – but if that’s the way it is, then so be it.

“The goal is never to write something inaccessible,” Eigeland says. “I’m not a good enough musician to decide ‘I’m going to write this sort of style’. But it is nice to explore a much more complicated form of writing, which is where my home is musically. But the sound will stay very Teiger.”

PROG FILE

LINE-UP: Talie Rose Eigeland (vocals/guitar), Jon Steele (drums), Phillip Eldridge-Smith (bass)

SOUNDS LIKE: Atmospheric musings fit for the 70s as much as the 2020s

CURRENT RELEASE: //Teiger// is out now, available from the band;s Bandcamp page: https://teiger.bandcamp.com/album/teiger

WEBSITE: teiger.land

— Chris Cope

You can listen to an interview with Talie Rose Eigeland from Teiger conducted by Roger Marsh

Talie also co-hosted a podcast with Roger.