There’s a little bit of everything on Touch the Buffalo’s Bodhicitta, and there better be. Touch the Buffalo hails from the competitive and vibrant Washington D.C. music community, so putting their best musical foot forward is essential for this unit to make a big splash. The four-song EP accomplishes that.
URL: https://www.touchthebuffalo.com/
We’re in recognizable terrain on this release, but Touch the Buffalo nevertheless carves out an unique niche for themselves. Blending singer/songwriter aspirations and instrumentation with bright and assertive alt-rock isn’t a path many have taken. However, Buffalo is blazing a personal trail, unlike any other band. They have influences, of course, all bands do but those influences are so thoroughly subsumed into their collective vision they are rendered indistinguishable.
“This City’s Burning” is a clarion call. It’s about a fallen world and Touch the Buffalo’s hardscrabble attempts to survive in the middle of chaos. You can hear it in a lot of different ways. Definite punk rock overtones are creeping into the arrangement, Washington D.C. and its environs are well-noted for supporting such acts, but it’s likewise ungirded by solid rock fundamentals that are impossible to ignore. The juxtaposition of emotional, even longing, lead vocals with this guitar-heavy arrangement is another feather in the song’s cap.
The EP’s longest track, “In Six Heads About It” shows off the band’s compositional excellence without ever seeming pretentious or showy. The foundation is an insistent yet simple mandolin riff that Touch the Buffalo expands on in multiple ways. It is an unlikely marriage of mandolin and alternative rock, but Buffalo brings it together with hardly a hiccup along the way. I’m deeply impressed with the variety of this song.
I’m deeply moved by the piano-driven “The Carpenter and the Nurse”. Buffalo began their musical journey eschewing alternative rock, and I believe we hear something of their origins here, albeit quite evolved since the band’s nascent days. The arrangement strengths of this track are varied, but one of the things that stands out the most for me is how well they thoroughly incorporate electric guitar into the mix. It complements the piano and vocals each step of the way.
“Hope’s Song” ends Bodhicitta on an unexpected note. I believed they’d likely return to the full-on guitar throttle of the opener as a way of bookending this short collection. Instead, Touch the Buffalo returns to the mandolin for an introspective and deeply felt conclusion that features the EP’s best vocal. Their songwriting prowess is evident throughout Bodhicitta, and “Hope’s Song” emphasizes this rather than any six-string pyrotechnics.
They can do a little bit of everything. I expect future releases will show that Bodhicitta, as wonderful as it is, only scratched the surface of their talents. They are musically and lyrically adept rather than treating the latter as an afterthought. The Arlington, Virginia/Washington D.C. area has produced many fine bands and solo acts over the past decades, and Touch the Buffalo appears poised to secure their place in that pantheon. Based on this EP, it’s a richly deserved accolade.
Claire Uebelacker