SAM KNEPPRATH | STAFF REPORTER
At Butler University, the cold winds of the north are continually forcing us to bundle up, the ever-domesticated squirrels are stocking up for their hibernation season and the odors of finals are stinking up the once joyous collegian air with a potpourri of gratuitous amounts of caffeine and all-nighters.
Thankfully, this past Tuesday, with the help of the coffee house committee, a student-led group who regularly puts on concerts featuring local artists, audience members and Starbucks patrons alike were given a chance to take a study break and listen to the band Tamas.
After its inception in the city of Marion, Indianapolis, Tamas has been a project with two years in the making. Its current evolution, a three-piece line-up including guitarist and vocalist Devin Hopwood, percussionist Jonah Yoshonis and Alan Murphy on bass have been a collective for the last four months.
That said, while recent rearrangement of the band has been in issue for less than half a year, its sound as a whole is truly anything but amateur.
While any concert’s the first song can be a sink-or-swim moment, Tamas encapsulated the audience fully with its track “Fox Years.”
Continuing to switch things up, the band went on to perform a blissed-out cover of the famed Beach Boys song “That’s Not Me” off of the album Pet Sounds. Tamas transformed the song into a unique version of their own by slowing down the original upbeat tempo.
While covers are all fine and dandy, the group was truly able to step into their own thematically with their track Wallpaper which was prefaced with a story of shabby wallpaper within a funeral home causing Hopwood to come to a realization to which he states that he’d “rather be torn down than to be a constant.”
This interpersonal tale contrasting with the very lustrous instrumentation creates this swaddling tone of comfort and reflection.
Rounding out its performance, the band ended with a sullen tune by the name of “Bird.” With poetic lyrics such as “You’re a bird that I keep chasing / I’ll never fully know you” harmoniously sung by the three members, the song grips at the heart, bringing back memories of a love once lost and the fleeting essence of nostalgia we all hold so dearly.
Even though some loves can only survive in the past, you can continue to love and support both Tamas as well as the Coffee House Committee.
“As someone who booked shows throughout college, it means a lot to see all support,” Hopwood said.
