“Soul Searching,” the first song from Mighty Tortuga’s Live from Lockdown, shows right from the start how the band members work together to make their sound. Guitars, bass and drums all have interlocking parts that, in themselves, are all sparse enough to make space for the music to live in — and for the vocals to be heard. “Can you be honest? / At least enough that you can keep a promise? / Are you sure?” The way the singer’s voice bends upward on the last word — sure? — sticks the phrase, lacing its earnestness with humor, and showing that the band has spent the pandemic further honing its craft.
The New Haven-based band — TJ Redding on vocals and acoustic guitar, Jacob Berberich and Matt Peternauster on guitars, Jameson Stock on drums, and Amar Lapastica on bass — celebrated its 2019 album Letting Go with a CD release party at Cafe Nine in May of that year. The band was little more than a year old at that point, but already had a refined sound, with a strong sense of melody and lyrics from Redding and the band already crafting the songs by building textures among the instruments. The last half of 2019 and first part of 2020 saw the band putting out singles. The pandemic and resulting isolation hardly seemed to slow the group down. It released “Soul Searching” as a single in June, followed by the singles “Reverie” and “Out of Reach” in August and September, and finally the EP The Gloom in October. That album showed the band’s sound becoming that much more expansive from Letting Go, with higher highs and lower lows. It also showed them creating a sound that even five members in the band would be at pains to create live, with layers of guitars and vocal overdubs. A very satisfying recording project — but what would the band sound like on the stage?
Live from Lockdown answers that question by showing that the smart arrangements on the albums are no fluke. “Transparency,” the fourth song on the album, starts with just one guitar and the rhythm section, which gives Redding’s delicate melody on the verses some room to breathe while still giving the song plenty of propulsion. The second electric guitar sneaks in to subtly thicken the sound. Only on the chorus do all the guitars spring to life, making from a song that feels energetic and lush at the same time. As Stock and Lapastica hold things down, Berberich and Petermauster proceed through idea after idea, while Redding serves as a guide to the song’s emotions.
“Stay,” meanwhile, takes on a melancholic tinge that it doesn’t quite have in its 2019 version. Live, the song is quieter, more contemplative and resigned. It feels as though the band has had a chance to grow into the song they wrote years ago, and found new shades of feeling to express in it.
“Covid hit hard, but we will hit harder,” the band explained on its website. “We will be touring soon.” Through Instagram, the band has already announced its first post-lockdown show, at a skate park in Milford. Judging from the quality of Live from Lockdown, it will be the first of many.
Live from Lockdown is available on Bandcamp.