Tyro Marks
New York City, New York, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jethro Tull, Tyro Marks have a name that sounds like the name of a solo artist when it’s actually the name of a group. There is no individual named Tyro Marks who performs on Iowa. Tyro Marks, rather, is a Brooklyn-based duo consisting of singer/songwriter/guitarist Steven Cohen (formerly of a band called Skidmore Fountain) and singer Laura Torma. Cohen is the head honcho; he founded Tyro Marks and sings lead on this album, while Torma provides backing vocal harmonies. Torma’s role is mainly a supporting role on Iowa, which is not to say that she isn’t an important part of Tyro Marks’ attractive sound. Cohen is obviously going for a male/female vocal aesthetic, which Torma helps him achieve. Torma’s vocal harmonies have a pleasingly ethereal quality, and Cohen did the right thing when he hired her to be the other half of Tyro Marks back in 2007.
No one will mistake the acoustic-oriented Iowa, which is the duo’s debut album, for party music or fun and frivolous escapism. Tyro Marks favor a hushed, gently introspective folk-rock/adult alternative approach, and melancholia is a major part of this 2010 release. Iowa gets off to a maudlin start with the opener “Nothing Seems to Last Around Here” and ends on an equally melancholy note with “Spinning Around.” In between, Cohen sounds world-weary more often than not, singing about disillusionment, sadness and heartbreak quite convincingly. His vocals are understated and restrained, but that doesn’t prevent him from getting his points across emotionally. And if “Running Away,” “100 Lifetimes Away,” and “Write Myself a Letter” don’t convince listeners that Cohen has a world-weary outlook, “Hotel Café” surely will. On “Hotel Café,” Cohen sings about how much of a struggle life in pricy Brooklyn can be and goes on to sing about how life in Los Angeles isn’t any easier, with the conclusion being that wherever one turns or looks, life is full of disappointments.
As gloomy as Iowa is much of the time, it also has its hopeful moments. On “In Your Arms” and “Floating Down the River,” Cohen manages to find some moments of happiness and contentment despite being surrounded by an ocean of pain and sorrow. Iowa, on the whole, is a very dark and brooding album, but occasionally, some rays of sunlight find their way through all the dark clouds that Cohen sings and writes about.
So, why would a Brooklyn-based duo have an album titled Iowa? It has to do with Cohen’s love of long road trips across the United States. Cohen starts to sound less melancholy when he sings about the open highway, which is rather Springsteen-ish of him. Bruce has a history of equating long drives with liberation, and Cohen’s writing sometimes employs similar imagery on Iowa. Musically, Tyro Marks and Springsteen are quite different. In contrast to Tyro Marks’ pastoral, airy, flowing sound, The Boss’ roots rock/Americana is tougher, edgier, and grittier than anything one will find on Iowa. The Springsteen comparison is a lyrical one rather than a musical one, and lyrically, there is definitely a parallel between the way both The Boss and Cohen look for happiness driving along America’s highways.
On future albums, Cohen would probably do well to make Torma more of a lead singer as opposed to someone who is mainly heard in a supportive capacity. The next Tyro Marks album, ideally, should have some songs on which Torma is the lead singer and Cohen is the one providing the supportive vocal harmonies. Iowa falls short of exceptional, but it’s still an enjoyable, promising listen. These Brooklyn residents are well worth keeping an eye on. - Alex Henderson - (Writer from Billboard, Spin)
Discography
"Iowa" Self Released in November 2010. Radio play on RCB Novus Ordo. Can be found at www.tyromarks.bancamp.com
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Bio
Americana duo Tyro Marks, born in Brooklyn in 2007, is releasing their debut album “Iowa.” To promote the record, Tyro Marks, one-half Steven Cohen (co-founder of Skidmore Fountain) and the other half, Laura Torma, will be performing throughout the New York area and touring in early 2011. Tyro Marks, whose music is best described as folk/country/funk, has been likened by Dylan Wissing, Indie Studio Drummer, to “If Chance Gardner from ‘Being There’ had a child with Willie Nelson and was then adopted by Wilco.”
“Iowa,” recorded at The Creamery Recording Studio, features local-area musicians from well-known bands, Live Footage and Leroy Justice. The title track, “Iowa,” is a lush, melodic retrospective on the journey from adolescence to adulthood, complete with soaring cellos that elevate the meaning of lyrics such as “I never left you far behind.” Altogether funky and country, track number 5, “Nothing Seems to Last Around Here,” is a tongue-in-cheek lamentation on the pains of being single in New York City. The album ends on a melancholic note with track number 9, “Write Myself a Letter,” leaving Tyro Marks’ listeners thinking about the ways in which they hope to be remembered by loved ones.
Steven Cohen, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, was first inspired to write the music for the album, and ultimately forming Tyro Marks, while driving cross-country from Arizona to New York City. Steven is an accomplished musician whose songs have been featured on MTV and played throughout the country on college radio. Currently, his solo guitar works can be heard at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Laura Torma, who met Steven in 2007, has sung with the New York City Master Chorale, Brooklyn Repertory Opera, and the Washington Performing Arts Society Gospel Choir. She is an established vocalist who can be heard on the feature film soundtrack for “The Downrising.”
Tyro Marks has performed at dozens of venues throughout New York City. including the Living Room, Cameo Gallery, Public Assembly, Caffe Vivaldi and Jack's Coffee. The band did a short tour in Japan in 2009 and can be heard playing on radio RCB Novus Ordo. They are working hard on expanding their performances in festivals and special events throughout the U.S. and are continuing to write music inspired by great American songwriters of the past.
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