The immediate reaction to hearing Tyler Ballgame for the first time must be to marvel at his voice. There are divine touches that are reminiscent of Roy Orbison, other moments where he recalls John Lennon in his softer 1970s incarnation, itself a far cry from his early Beatles gargling nails style on the likes of ‘Twist and Shout’. Purely in terms of its impact, it is reminiscent of initially hearing Jeff Buckley, although Ballgame has a subtler approach putting his voice at the service of his songs and avoiding Buckley’s tendency toward theatrical grandstanding.
‘For the First Time, Again’ consists of twelve songs, produced by multi-instrumentalists Jonathan Rado (who has worked with Weyes Blood, Foxygen and Miley Cyrus) and Ryan Pellie whose devotion to the analogue recording technology used in classic 60s and 70s music gives the album a timeless quality.
The title track which opens proceedings offers up many of the qualities that makes this such an appealing record. A spacious sound with strummed guitar and clearly defined percussive clicks, Ballgame’s easy delivery gives different emphasis to each word, uses slight pauses and hushes which adds greater impact when he lets his voice soar to its highest register.
‘I Believe In Love’ is especially sublime, offering the chance to get wrapped in every luxurious word and note. While Ballgame’s lyrics are generally straightforwardly to the point, here he indulges in some poetic wordplay (“leavened heaven cut in the shape of you.”) His voice ranges from ruefully melancholic as he muses “it’s a lonely life” through sweetly hypermelodic to slightly cracked as he asks, “was I so naïve to think it wanted me alive.” Musically, there are melodic echoes of Cat Stevens and horns that rise with the voice.
Technically, he is especially well-suited to ballads, including ‘You’re Not My Baby Tonight’ where his vocals are at his most Orbison-like, caressing the tune from its gentle, countryish beginnings through to its big piano-led chorus. At times, his voice on ‘Sing How I Feel’ is reduced to a murmur, giving extra weight to his more impassioned outburst of “Look in my eyes and you’ll see it for real” while the organ refrain adds to the soulful feel. The slow pace allows him to display a mastery of the exquisitely sad, particularly on ‘Goodbye My Love’ where he sustains some shiver-inducing long notes. If there is a moment when the incredibly high standards slip, it would be on the more rocking and whooping ‘Matter of Taste’ though it does sound like the band are having a rollicking good time.
While the lyrical approach is generally familiar with a liberal sprinkling of ‘love’ and ‘baby’, ‘Got A New Car’ is an outlier. Apart from the annoying mention of himself in the third person, it includes a bizarre set of references to golf, seances and pumpkins together with the arresting statement, “cult fame and status / is the only thing that matters when you die”, his American pronunciation of status enabling it to rhyme with matters. Accompanied by mariachi horns and vibes, his voice rises to the stars while expressing the desire “I want to be the one to let you into the light.”
It is no surprise that he can imbue the title and one-word chorus of the bass and drum shuffle ‘Ooh’ with such meaning and longing, the shock coming when the final verse ramps up the volume before fading out with some freeform jazz saxophone. Although its title could be that of an archetypal downbeat acoustic blues, ‘Down So Bad’ is one of the album’s most high-tempo and dramatic songs, a musical challenge that Ballgame thoroughly embraces.
It is striking how well his voice strikes a balance between losing and maintaining control, even when he is singing “I want to love / I want to break my fall” on ‘Deepest Blue’, a song whose mood is enhanced by muted guitar and some lovely piano embellishments. The album is wrapped up with the early 70s style commercial rock take on barroom boogie of ‘Waiting So Long’, piano and sax adding to the rock band line-up while Ballgame’s voice ends up sounding appealing ragged.
A wider audience got an initial breathtaking glimpse of Ballgame performing ‘Got a New Car’ on ‘Later with Jools Holland’, another step towards status that ought to extend way beyond cult fame. Discussing ‘For the First Time, Again’, it is easy to slip into music journalist hyperbole about Ballgame’s voice but all that needs to be said is sit down, hear it for the first time, then again and again.
Tyler Ballgame: For the First Time, Again – 30 January 2026 (Rough Trade)
Ballgame – “Got A New Car” (Official Music Video)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
