Tapir! are an English indie folk band, formed in London in 2019. Known for their blending of folk music with genres such as post-punk and art pop, their first album, The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain, was released on 26 January 2024. They released their first single, "My God", in 2022. They have played live shows and festivals, opening concerts for artists such as Ian Sweet and Explosions in the Sky. Tapir!'s musical style has been compared to folk art, with many aspects of their music being inspired by biblical, mythical, and literary sources.
Career
Tapir! consists of six musicians based in South London,[1][2] many of whom are a part of other projects.[3] The band formed in 2019 and began releasing music three years later;[2] they released "My God", written during the COVID-19 pandemic,[4] as their first single,[5] and the EP Act 1 (The Pilgrim) in 2022.[6] These were both later re-released, with "My God" becoming a single for their first album[4] and Act 1 (The Pilgrim) being remastered and re-released to coincide with the signing of the band to Heavenly Recordings in May 2023.[6]
Tapir!'s first album, The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain, was released on 26 January 2024.[11] It is composed of three acts:[12][13] their two previous EPs – Act 1 (The Pilgrim) and Act 2 (Their God) – plus four songs in a third act exclusive to the full album.[11] The first song of each act contains narration by Kyle Field.[11] The album tells the story of "The Pilgrim"[11][2] or "Pilgrim",[14] a creature travelling through a fictional world of green hills and red beasts.[5][14][15] The album was described by DIY as "immersed in the cinematic, the mythological and the art of experimenting... an escapist dream, and immersive story".[16]
On 15 August 2024, Tapir! released a new track, "Hallelujah Bruv". It was recorded with Yuri Shibuichi and Hywel Pryer, who had previously worked with the band.[17] On 17 September, they released the single "Nail in a Wooden Trunk".[18][19]
Musical style and reception
Clash describes Tapir! as "blend[ing] post-punk with folk, indie with skittering electronics" and as art pop.[3] Describing the track "Gymnopédie", Circuit Sweet called its climax "a glorious lo-fi symphony that sounds like it's performed teetering on the edge of a cliff".[1] Writing for Hideous Magazine, Angelika May wrote of the song "My God" that it "exudes an abundance of esotericism and eccentricity, offering intricate and thorough conceptions that make you want to crack open their crimson, mammalian heads in an attempt to understand their process".[20] In a review of the 2022 version of Act 1 for Hard of Hearing Magazine, Lloyd Bolton compared the music's aesthetic to paganfolk art, saying "amid the crackle, artless singalongs create the impression of a fictional pagan ceremony, celebrating the folklore of this imaginary region".[21]
Many of the drums in Tapir!'s music are electronic,[14] although they do have a drummer when playing live.[22] Much of the lyrical inspiration on Act 2 is from biblical, mythical, and literary sources, such as the track "Eidolon" being inspired by a Walt Whitman poem.[23] The band often wears red papier-mâché heads online and for live performances,[11][15] representing the character of Pilgrim.[15][24]
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