Tonic Immobility

Tonic Immobility is the fifth studio album by musical supergroup Tomahawk. Released after an eight-year gap following their previous record, Tonic Immobility was preceded by the singles "Business Casual" and "Dog Eat Dog". Described by guitar player Duane Denison as "an escape from the realities of the world", Tonic Immobility has been well received critically, particularly for its diverse-sounding songs, and has charted in several countries including Australia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Production Coming eight years after their Tomahawk's previous album Oddfellows, and seven after the non-album single "M.E.A.T.", Tonic Immobility was recorded at the L429 Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Vulcan Studio in San Francisco, California. Much of the music for the album was recorded three years before the vocals, while singer Mike Patton was working with other bands, including releasing The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo with Mr. Bungle. Patton believed the music he received would have worked as an instrumental album, finding each of the songs to have already been evocative of a theme before he added any lyrics. Guitar player Duane Denison called the band's sound "cinematic rock", believing that the group—several of whom have worked in film scoring—benefit from a shared passion for soundtrack music; the song "Doomsday Fatigue" in particular was inspired by the mood of western films and had the working title of "High Noon". Denison has described the songwriting for Tonic Immobility as having been inspired by current world events at the time, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic, stating "It’s been a rough year between the pandemic and everything else. A lot of people feel somewhat powerless [...] For as much as the record possibly reflects that, it’s also an escape from the realities of the world. We’re not wallowing in negativity". Patton stated that the song "Eureka" was inspired by his home town of Eureka, California, while "Doomsday Fatigue" drew from his experience of dwelling on negative news reporting during the pandemic, which left him "having a hard time getting off the couch and doing shit".