Then there's "The Alien" which feels like an acoustic rebuttal to "The Gold" to further emphasize that stripping down is what they wanted - bare and vulnerable, kind of like how they had Hope as a counter-record to Cope. Things shift up a bit on "The Lead" which has a synth vibe to it and melodically tricks you into hearing The Wanted's "Glad You Came" - which makes sense given Hull loves covering mainstream stuff like 50 Cent, No Doubt and Rupert Holmes. "The Gold" also helps start things off on a solid note, paying homage to the calmer notes off Simple Math but with a singalong chorus that feels highly familiar to their earliest albums. He's really at the front of things so much that with the musical experimentation here and the band's overall growth in sound, it can be construed as a solo effort from Hull. In the past (as seen with songs like "Shake It Off") he went gruff and tough on the vocals but now, MO simply let his voice echo through like they're in a hallway and honestly, this choir-effect works in terms of production. It's a ballad that feels straight off I'm Like a Virgin Losing Child where Hull's voice reaches so far into you. What Hull's lyrics lay down at various junctures is that our human nature is to bury things down and keep them there, with our soul coming up to the light every now and the - and that's the duality his protagonist and antagonist both face. This song though best reflects the album's title in that you're either drilling down to the darkness in your soul, or coming up for a breath of fresh air. It has a melodic hook like "Every Stone" off Cope so rest assured, Manchester Orchestra keep their signature in play. Hull embeds the voices of kids in between to make it even spookier. "The Moth" stands out as how bold and different a route they map, coming off like a Silversun Pickups jam. A lot of the music on tap actually is quite minimal compared to their guitar-aggressive and instrumentally-intricate archive found on the likes of Mean Everything To Nothing. rock (which is as best as I can describe their tempered sound at present). It's torment and tragedy set to a melodic backdrop that's alt. In this case, it's not personal but a fictitious story about brothers fighting for what their father leaves them behind. It does however find him stretching his mind on the concept of family. This album finds Hull older and wiser, no longer waxing on and on about being the son of a preacher and battling with religion. from delivering mid-tempo jams that are just as passionate and just as tense as what came before, flowing differently but still paying tribute to what brought them to this particular point. I guess that comes with age - losing the aggression and frantic nature of yourself as life wears you down, for better or worse. It's another haunting effort but one that doesn't quite pack the rock and roll punch of old. He, along with lead guitarist Robert McDowell, ventured into new territory last year by doing the music for the Swiss Army Man movie from the Daniels (who did the band's videos for the older "Simple Math" and here, "The Alien") and they've certainly brought a cinematic flair and atmospheric sound to their new record, A Black Mile to the Surface. In fact, almost everything frontman Andy Hull sets his mind to ends up being just that. Manchester Orchestra records are quite the experience.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |