I haven’t written about anything by Steriogram for a long time. Last time I did, I gave some context regarding the band but very little about my overall experience with them. And that’s what I feel you readers like to hear about. Very sure the first song by the group I heard was ‘Walkie Talkie Man’. It’s probably the only track of theirs a majority of people would know because of its inclusion those old iPod dancing silhouette adverts back in the day. I never saw those. I saw its music video on MTV2. I really liked it. And I have vague memories of going on the Steriogram website, trying to watch it and coming across the video for ‘Tsunami’ in the process. This is all in 2004 and I guess I would have been nine. Forgive me if the recollection’s a little hazy. What I know for sure is, when it comes to ‘Tsunami’, after seeing its music video in poor quality on Windows Media Player, I didn’t listen to it in full again until I got Steriogram’s Schmack! album for Christmas in 2007.

If this is your first time hearing Steriogram, to sum up, they were a band from New Zealand who provided their own take on that good old genre of rap rock. Much more punkier though and marked by the dynamic between guitarist Brad Carter providing the earnest, from-the-heart singing vocals and the wackier, animated rapping by co-vocalist Tyson Kennedy. Usually how it goes on Schmack!, Kennedy will rap the verses before Carter will bring it home with the dulcet tones on the choruses with Kennedy ad-libbing in between. That’s pretty much how it goes on ‘Tsunami’ too. They do both sing in unison, mirroring the opening guitar riff, at various points. I feel like there’s something a little juvenile about that riff. Like, its melody reminds me of that of a playground taunt for some reason. But it really falls into place when the rhythm section gets going and the first chorus suddenly comes in without warning. The way those surrounding guitars all pop into the frame when Carter sings the title for the first time… Feels like a wave, it all washes over you. Bit like a tsunam… You get it.

I think the song’s music video very much depicts the lyrical subject matter. The narrator seems to have just been broken up with. The girl has walked away. The narrator is left with their own company and a heart split in two. They’re not feeling too great. And what I’m thinking is the tsunami as mentioned in the song is depression. In the devastating aftermath of the breaking-up, the narrator sees this ominous wave of emotion coming over the horizon, and all they can do is sit and wait until it really hits. But then, thinking about it, Kennedy seems to be rapping from a point of view where the relationship isn’t quite yet over, but the signs that it soon will be are obvious. You can probably tell, I haven’t got it quite pinned down. But I do enjoy the song a lot. Must admit, it’s Carter’s vocals during the melodic choruses and the bridge that strike a chord with me rather than Kennedy’s rapping. But that’s usually how I am even with straight-up rap music in general. If there’s a melody in there somewhere, those are where my ears are always going to pay attention.