Life After Youth is the first Land of Talk album since 2010’s Cloak and Cipher. After taking a few months off after Cloak and Cipher’s touring cycle, frontwoman Elizabeth Powell got back to work on a followup. Instead, a series of mishaps – post-tour fatigue, a crashed hard drive with new demos, and her father’s stroke in 2013 – turned “a few months” into “a few years”.
While caring for her father, Elizabeth fell under the spell of classical, ambient, and Japanese tonkori music, whose meditative quality aided his recovery. Immersing herself in those sounds would change her entire approach to music making; she started writing songs without her trusty guitar, instead building tracks up from synth beds and programmed loops.
Life After Youth’s centerpiece track, “Inner Lover,” presents the most radical results of those experiments. It’s an audio Rorschach test of a song: key in on the incessant synth pulse underpinning Elizabeth’s pleading vocal (“take care of me!”) and the track assumes an ominous intensity. But when you surrender to the relaxed drum counter-rhythm and subliminal harmonies, “Inner Lover” projects a graceful serenity.
Even the songs built atop more traditional rock foundations exist in that liminal space between dreaming and waking life, confidence and doubt, raw feelings and soothing sounds. “Yes You Were” opens the record with a cold-start surge that’s overwhelming in its immediacy, with Elizabeth’s furiously strummed guitar jangle and wistful lyricism bearing all the adrenalized excitement and nervous energy of seeing old friends (or, in her case, fans) for the first time in ages. And as its title suggests, “Heartcore” is a collision of soft-focus sonics and emotional intensity, with Elizabeth’s crystalline vocals hovering above a taut, relentless backbeat and disorienting synth squiggles. Even the turn-a-new-leaf optimism of “This Time” is presented less as a triumphant comeback statement than a warm reassuring embrace—its beautifully dazed ‘n’ confused psych-pop swirl acts as a calming force as you hurtle toward life’s great unknown.
Fitting for a song about reconnecting with the world, “This Time” was the product of another fortuitous reunion—between Elizabeth and her old friend Sharon Van Etten, who lent her songwriting smarts and heavenly harmonies to that track, as well as “Heartcore” and the Fleetwood Mac-worthy “Loving.” And Van Etten is just one member of a veritable indie-rock dream team Elizabeth recruited to complete the album: the moonlit ballad “In Florida” was recorded by producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile) in his New Jersey studio, with Elizabeth backed by former Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and Roxy Music/Sparks bassist Sal Maida.
Every discussion of Hop Along begins with Frances Quinlan’s voice. It’s a force of nature, yes, but it’s also human, often painfully so, and she uses it to relate stories of humanity in all its rawness and imperfection, its ugliness and its grace. The band match her thorny intensity with knife-sharp guitars and rhythms, see-sawing from sweetness to noise, building to moments of musical and emotional catharsis that detonate with the force of a land-mine. So much of Painted Shut is about feeling small, feeling weak, letting people down and being let down, but Hop Along turn that into something explosive and strong and beautiful and triumphant. Powerlessness has never sounded so powerful.
The wiry, bookish sound of Painted Shut by the band Hop Along are at their vanguard. “By the time it’s old/ My face will have been seen/ And I’ll share a very/ Common poverty/ It’s a very common kind,” Frances Quinlan sings on “Waitress”, a vignette about a disgraced diner server. Hop Along spend all of their stellar third album leaping to capture these specific sorts of honors.
Quinlan’s rough voice always sounds on the verge of giving out, but as a writer she is a tender guardian who sees dignity everywhere she looks: On “The Knock”, she is moved to tears by the beaming Jehovah’s Witness who knocks on her door (“I never once seen a teenager look so radiant”), and “Buddy in the Parade” recalls the spectacular public breakdown of early-20th century cornetist Charles “Buddy” Bolden, who started frothing at the mouth during a parade performance and spent the rest of his life in a sanitarium. The songs are furiously angry in their energy and endlessly compassionate toward their targets, backing you into a corner and hugging you fiercely, like someone staging a very determined intervention on your behalf.
American singer-songwriter Laura Burhenn has worked under the moniker The Mynabirds since 2010, releasing three critically acclaimed and stylistically different albums on Saddle Creek Records: What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood (2010) and Generals(2012), both produced by Richard Swift, and Lovers Know (2015). She has also toured as a member of the Postal Service (2013) and with the artist Bright Eyes (2011), helped found Omaha Girls Rock (a non-profit helping young girls find their voices), and in 2013 gave a TED talk based on her “New Revolutionists” photo project, exploring what it means to be a revolutionary woman in this day and age. Before the Mynabirds, Laura was a member of Washington DC indie band Georgie James with Q And Not U’s John Davis, and also put out two solo self-produced albums on the label she founded herself, Laboratory Records.
Through all of her transformations, there’s one thing that remains constant: her voice. She’s been compared to Cat Power, Fiona Apple And while her songs might show up dressed in new ways on each new release, they still very much embody Laura’s distinct songwriting style. “I’ve always been most inspired by the songwriter chameleons,” Laura says. “David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, PJ Harvey, Bjork. They play — with their arrangements, their tones, their personas. But when it comes down to it, every song could be strummed on guitar, or played alone at a keyboard. And at the heart of it, they’re storytellers.” Laura is setting out on a full US solo tour this fall, stripping all of her songs back to bare bones, the way they were originally conceived.
Leonard Cohen is timeless, of course. And it helps that the man himself hasn’t changed in the essential ways still our still mean. Now it looks like the music culture has swung back in his direction. The album he released last year at the age of seventy-seven, Old Ideas, despite its title, was much more vital than it needed to be or anyone expected it to be. And Laura Burhenn released a cover of one of his very best, possibly his best, song, “Chelsea Hotel #2.”
Leonard Cohen cover from her 2004 album Wanderlust.
The Thermals, from Portland, Oregon a trio that specialize in quick hitting pop-punk that deals with love and love-related pain they don’t shy away from feelings. “Thinking of You,” was the latest track from the band’s record, We Disappear, and it’s as direct as any in The Thermals’ canon.
In the press release, “Thinking of You” is described as “a bouncy, super-catchy blend of ’70s punk, ’80s pop, and classic Thermals new century angst.” That seems like a lot of different sounds to absorb, and you’ll have less than two minutes to process everything. But that’s ok, because The Thermals as always are masters of brevity.
“I’ve been listening to the voice inside my head, wishing I’d heard you instead,” sings Hutch Harris. “And when I thought about love, I was only thinking of us. When I thought of all the things I wanna do, I was only thinking of you.”
It’s punchy and uplifting and full of regret, all at the same time. It’s “one of the most straight-forward love songs we’ve ever written, a point-blank post-break up song,” said Harris
It really is, which makes “Thinking of You” exceptionally relatable. Does it evoke any memories of love or love lost for you? ,
It takes nerve to title your debut album “Masterpiece”. As we noted on the midyear list, the Brooklyn band BigThief has an awful lot of nerve. What is more important is that the group has excellent songs, which run on smoky, vulnerable vocals and superb melodies. Led by the midnight twang of Adrianne Lenker’s voice, Big Thief’s songs capture the rural desperation of a freight trainyard romance (“Paul”), a motel-screen movie marathon (“Vegas”) or an abusive family (“Real Love”). It is a taut, emotionally resonant collection of songs with a killer climax in “Parallels.” And among the group’s many recently converted fans is Jeff Tweedy, of Wilco fame, who tweeted: “Great guitars, great lyrics, great melodies…. What more could you possibly want?” It’s just that simple.
Big Thief’s Masterpiece is a shared experience. It was an album I’d put on riding in a car with friends, travelling to festivals and gigs . For their album debut, Big Thief added heft to these whispery tales. And that often comes in the form of Buck Meek’s guitar, as he underpins Adrianne Lenker’s chilling voice. I’ve listened to this album more than any other in 2016. It’s just about perfect. Calling your album “Masterpiece” is a bold statement, but BigThief get closer than you’d think on the title track to their debut for Saddle Creek Records. Against a backdrop of beautifully ragged guitars, frontwoman Adrianne Lenker describes what sounds like a late-night bar crawl, always one drink ahead of loss and grief: “There’s only so much letting go you can ask someone to do.”
Bright Eyes have announced a new box set, collecting six of their records from the 2000s. It’s aptly titled The Studio Albums 2000-2011, and it’s out on vinyl and CD on September 16th via Saddle Creek. The Studio Albums includes 2000’s Fevers and Mirrors, 2002’s Lifted, or, The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, 2005’s I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, 2007’s Cassadaga, and their most recent LP The People’s Key (2011). All of the albums have been remastered by engineer Bob Ludwig (at Gateway Mastering).
Formed in 1995, Bright Eyes have released nine studio albums (with another one on its way later this month) and each of their records explore different sonic territories—folk, emo, country, pop, indie rock. It’s a tough and almost unfair challenge to rank their albums, much less their songs, but it’s a task worth exploring.
Still, with every album, the distinguishing factors remain: frontman Conor Oberst’s shaky, despondent vocals, and his existential, often story-like lyricism. At the heart of every song is some kind of revelation, whether it’s about love, lust, pain, or existence. In Cassadaga, this happens in a magical setting with cowboy vibes and no laws; whereas Digital Ash in a Digital Urn exists within a morbid electro-pop atmosphere, like a realm of cyberspace.
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was arrives August. 21st via Dead Oceans. The record travels through water and fire, life and death, sickness and health. It’s hard to place what territory Bright Eyes have not touched; and if there’s any space left over, they will be sure to explore it at some point.
The vinyl edition of the box set includes 10 coloured LPs, 12 8×10 photo prints by Butch Hogan, and an essay by Nathaniel Krenkel (who founded Team Love Records with Conor Oberst). Each record is “housed in a foil stamped linen-wrapped box.” In addition, each disc in the 6xCD edition is “housed in a foil stamped linen coated board slip case.” See the vinyl box set below.
The new remastered records will be available individually in November via Saddle Creek. Fevers and Mirrors and Lifted are out November 4th. I’m Wide Awake, Digital Ash, and Cassadaga are out November 11th.
Bright Eyes – The Studio Albums 2000 – 2011 Bright Eyes is largely the brainchild of Nebraskan song writer Conor Oberst and his long time collaborator/producer/multi instrument playing friend Mike Mogis. Cataloguing all of the bands studio works, this box set features some of, in our opinion, the most underrated albums of their time. This long awaited box set catalogues Conor Oberst’s song writing at its peak, beautifully put together on stunning coloured LPs with some lovely extras. It really hits the old cliché of being ‘a must for any fan’ which we hear far too much in press releases from labels trying to promote box sets like this, but it really is worth it!
“Lover I Don’t Have to Love” Reckoning with toxic impulses, addiction, love, and pain, this track is the most intense Bright Eyes song. It moves slowly, and Oberst’s vocals are close to whispers, but his words are raw and sharp: “I want a lover I don’t have to love / I want a girl who’s too sad to give a fuck.” There’s a powerful tension between darkness and love, and this storyline is specific but universal. Towards the end, Oberst proclaims: “But life’s no story book / Love’s an excuse to get hurt,” and it’s just one of his many despondent observations that make Bright Eyes so evocative and special.
“You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.” This beautiful acoustic track follows two lovers who consider each other to be “the re-occuring kind.” Oberst compares their love to a storybook, and reflects on the beginning: “We were just kids when I first kissed you / In the attic of my parents’ house / And I wish we were there now.” It’s a messy type of love, but Oberst paints it as romantic and meant-to-be, playing with ideas of destiny and fate. His voice is confident and enthused by the end, and the instruments are booming like an excited orchestra at a wedding.
‘Fevers and Mirrors’ and ‘Lifted…’ are two great examples of how to make beautifully crafted songs with darker subject matter like failed suicide attempts, and drug abuse. Both, are to some extent, reminiscent of the writing style of Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave, these songs aren’t afraid to lay out Oberst’s misery, or unafraid to be called depressing by some, because if songs are as good as these early works, they can’t be depressing at all!. Bright Eyes, but make it rock ‘n’ roll.
This Fevers and Mirrors track best demonstrates the vague Victorian aura this album plays with. It samples the unsettling melody and some lyrics from the 1964 Fiddler on the Roof song of the same name, and Oberst’s haunting voice adds to the darkness. He sings of the cyclical nature of life, describing it as a trap we can’t escape without death.
The heartbreak ballad is best listened to during a breakup. Oberst wallows in self-pity to the fullest extent, showing it off like he’s proud. His voice trembles in the typical Oberst fashion, but at times it sounds as if he’s about to burst into sobs. He even breaks out in a yell, lamenting the betrayal of the one he loved the most: “You said you hate my suffering / And you understood / And you’d take care of me / You’d always be there / Well where are you now?” Even though he’s clearly being dramatic, it’s impossible to not sympathize with him and want to cry yourself.
The Calendar Hung Itself…This obsessive love song is an iconic emo anthem. Every line reads like a Tumblr poem about a toxic relationship between young lovers: “Does he lay awake listening to your breath / Worried that you smoke too many cigarettes?” Oberst is full-on playing a character, and he’s tangled up in something he knows will end up hurting him. It’s the second track on Fevers and Mirrors, and it sets up the scene for the self-pity and panic attacks to come.
The guitars on the song from 2011’s The People’s Key are almost generic, Charming harmonies and a keyboard are layered throughout the song, and an extravagant culmination of the two closes it out. Still, the best part is the beginning, with Oberst singing, “I loved a triple spiral / My maiden-mother-crone,” with a fun rhythm buoying the song along.
The band’s real mainstream breakthrough came with the 2005 release of two albums on the same day, ‘Digital Ash InA Digital Urn’ a slightly more experimental album with touches of Obersts early oddities, and what is seen by many as the bands high point ‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning’. An album that fits in with some of the best modern Americana, with a real love of country and is almost a more career driven album, itching to fulfil the critics who referred to Oberst as a modern day Dylan.
Cassadaga carries on prefectly from where ‘I’m Wide Awake…’ with country inspired tracks at the start of the album, such as the single ‘Four Winds’, but flows through bits of everything the band had done before. The track ‘No One Would Riot For Less’ feels like an end of the world, anti war piece that wouldn’t be out of place at the end of the ‘1984’ film, that no one else could’ve written. Recounting a story about emotional affairs, religion and redemption, this extravagant song sounds at first as if it’s from Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over the Sea. Oberst is taking on the perspective of a wife whose husband cheated on her with a mistress, and she’s a vivid, complicated character: “Her bed beneath a crucifix / On guests performing miracles / With the Son of God just hanging like a common criminal.” But nothing in the song compares to Oberst passionately singing the unforgettable line: “Oh, I’ve made love, yeah, I’ve been fucked, so what?”
The heartwarming ballad “First Day of My Life” is Bright Eyes’ biggest hit, though it’s a bit misleading. Oberst is rarely this optimistic, but it explains why he’s so crushed when a relationship ends. His love is deep and committed, and his voice is tender as he recalls the blossoming of it all, quoting what his lover said to him: “This is the first day of my life / I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you.” It’s the tamest, most content part of I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning—free of any sense of darkness, war or ache.
“When The President Talks To God” This political, country-folk song caught the audience of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno off guard. Bright Eyes were promoting the double release of “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, and instead of performing songs from either of those albums, they used their platform to protest the presidency of George W. Bush. The song is confrontational enough to give you chills: “When the President talks to God, / Are the conversations brief or long? / Does he ask to to rape our women’s rights?” It gave context as to why Oberst is often cast as one of the most depressed voices of our generation—he’s haunted by the state of the world as much as he is by his own life.
“Middleman” is this evocative western track is an eccentric travelling song. Cassadaga itself resides in a weird world—one representing the town in Volusia County, Fla., known for its psychics, mediums and overall spiritual energy. “Middleman” creates this mystical aura best with careful strumming, poignant violin and what sounds like a bongo drum. Oberst is a mysterious narrator offering vague warnings: “Because I never know when it’s time to go / It’s too crowded now inside / The dead can hide beneath the ground / And the birds can always fly.”
“Land Locked Blues” This song is lyrically perfect down to every line, which is impressive for a nearly six-minute journey. Oberst harmonizes with Emmylou Harris again, and they reckon with a love that must end, wars that won’t stop and the urge to be free. These themes intertwine and interact with each other, most noticeably in this powerful image: “We made love on the living room floor / With the noise in the background from a televised war / And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say / If we walk away, they’ll walk away.”
“We Are Nowhere And It’s Now” Opening with the lines “If you hate the taste of wine / Why do you drink it ’til you’re blind?,” this song is full of personal, depressing accusations. In the same verse, Oberst asks: “Why are you scared to dream of God / When it’s salvation that you want?” Everything is colossal, though the guitar is tame, and Oberst and legendary country singer Emmylou Harris sing slowly and carefully.
The band’s final album, ‘The Peoples Key’, feels in some ways like a fitting end to the collection in this box, for the most part its a band that is still at its high point, but in moments like the stunning ‘The Ladder Song’ you feel like you’re right back with a ‘Fevers and Mirrors’ Conor. The beauty of all of these albums is how well Mogis can blend the ever changing collection of collaborating musicians that make up Bright Eyes with the bewitching vocals and lyrics from Oberst.
Only a few weeks after the announcement of their deal with Saddle Creek, Big Thief have revealed a release date for their debut album Masterpiece – the eagerly awaited LP drops May 27th.
Big Thief is the product of Brooklyn-based musicians Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik and JamesKrivchenia. Lenker, who began her career as a solo artist, met Meek in New York a few years ago, where the two quickly formed a musical partnership. While performing in dive bars and in basements, they recorded new music, including Lenker’s solo album, Hours Were The Birds. Lenker and Meek then joined forces with the other half of Big Thief and spent last July recording Masterpiecein a Lake Champlain, New York, studio with producer Andrew Sarlo.
“Struggle is inherent in love. Without consciousness, human or animal, would love exist?,” Lenker said of their new track, “Real Love.” “We make love, and love makes us. Maybe that’s why it is so hard for us when we feel that we’ve lost it, as if we’ve disappeared.”
Big Thief is set to perform several showcases at SXSW this month and will hit the road with Yuck for an extensive tour this spring.
We’re premiering the indie pop band’s lyric video for “Semantics,” a thought-provoking track that delves into the notion of labels in relationships: “I’m asking, ‘Does it matter what we call things, what we call ‘Us’?” says lead singer Laura Burhenn. “And, yeah, it does. It can change everything. If we call love something beautiful, if we put the energy into it being that, we can transform into that.”
The visuals for the song are pretty unassuming at first, with characters singing along karaoke-style to the Mynabirds’ lyrics that appear at the bottom of the screen. But each time the hook drops, some infectiously random scenes ensue, reminding us why we fell in love with the confusing-yet-addictive Chinese app in the first place (because who doesn’t want to see a cartoon version of herself holding up a roll of toilet paper that turns into an angel?).
“Semantics” is the Mynabirds’ first single off of their third album, Lovers Know, out August 7th on Saddle Creek Records.
Hop Along performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded May 29, 2015.
Songs:
Texas Funeral
The Knock
Waitress
Tibetan Pop Stars
Powerful Man
Sister Cities
Hop Along has often been dubbed Philadelphia’s best kept secret. But for much longer? I really Don’t think so, with a superb collection of songs the new album should see them as rising stars.
Get Disowned, Hop Along’s first full-band album which they self-released in 2012, came out of seemingly nowhere to be one of the most staggeringly perfect records of the year. Ten songs that were as catchy as they were strange. The Philly four-piece can pull off this amazing trick where they make a lyric instantly stick in your head without needing to tether it to a traditional verse-chorus-verse structure.
Part of what makes Hop Along’s sound so unique is the brother-sister anti-chemistry of drummer Mark Quinlan and guitarist/singer Frances Quinlan. Mark, who grew up pounding away for heavier hardcore bands, and Frances, a student of the Jeff Magnum style of make-it-weird-until-it-works songwriting, meet somewhere in the middle. Sometimes they’ll bring things down to a hushed whisper, before pushing levels beyond breaking points, and weave the two extremes together at break-neck paces. And it’s all glued together with Frances’ inimitable voice—raggedy and raw, with a wild, untameable streak. Never duplicating, always unpredictable.
As a result of their musically mutated DNA, Hop Along could hold their own alongside just about anyone. And they have. They’ve been jammed onto bills with everyone from The Thermals to Fucked Up to Paint It Black.
Naturally, the “secret” of Hop Along has gradually gotten out over the last few years and by the time they were ready to work on their follow-up sophomore album, Painted Shut, they had a long line of industry suitors, out of which, Omaha indie staple Saddle Creek Records emerged victorious. If the album’s first single, “Waitress” is any indicator, Saddle Creek got a steal.
“Waitress” is everything that makes Hop Along great, distilled down into three and a half minutes. Frances’ idiosyncratic lyricism is on full display and as each minute of the track passes, the band seems intent on upping their own intensity, crescendoing until the song hits a tipping point. And then it just ends. A perfect way to tease an album.
This is all a long-winded way of saying this: There is no one out there like Hop Along. Not even close. And Painted Shut might just end up being the best album of the year.
Hop Along has had multiple lives. First conceptualized as a freak-folk solo act by Frances Quinlan, it progressed towards a fuller sound with the addition of Mark Quinlan on drums, Tyler Long on bass and Joe Reinhart (Algernon Cadwallader, Dogs on Acid) on guitar. Emerging as one of music’s most unique songwriters, the captivating vignettes Frances has weaved tell vivid stories of desperation and weary awakening. Her powerful voice is a spellbinding entity all it’s own, celebratory and raw, and one that can’t be shaken away. Their new album, Painted Shut, (out on May 5, 2015 via Saddle Creek Records) is their 2nd full-length (preceded by Get Disowned in 2012). However, this release marks their first time creating as a full-formed entity, arranging everything as a group. It was co-produced, recorded and mixed by John Agnello (Kurt Vile, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, etc.) in the great cities of Philadelphia and Brooklyn, and incidentally finished in the shortest span of time the band has ever made anything.
Like their debut, Painted Shut is a series of accounts, a procession of fleeting characters. However, it diverges from its predecessor in its close-up, controlled approach (most of the album features the band recording live), Painted Shut is a grounded, less merciful image of many struggling adults in a severe landscapes.
• Sophomore album and Saddle Creek debut from Philadelphia’s Hop Along
• Produced by John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile)
• One of the most anticipated albums of 2015
The concept of added value is on full display on this album. You sense that “Hop Along”, a band of indie folkies from Philadelphia, would be a decent rock outfit but not necessarily one marked out for special attention. The extra dimension is the voice of Frances Quinlan. She has a raspy and often strained delivery. Indeed, there is the feeling that sometimes she is struggling to meet the higher notes, yet it is her voice imperfections that make it perfect. Quinlan injects a dynamism and energy into these songs that charge at the listener and threatens your balance. Listen to the opener “The Knock” or the wondrous “Sister Cities” and marvel how in 2015 most of the best rock albums are led by bands fronted by women (See also Courtney Barrett and Speedy Ortiz).
“Painted Shut” is the band’s second album and the songs across its all too brief 41 minutes impress like a smart interviewee in a new suit. In tracks like “Powerful Man,” we also see that Quinlan is not afraid to bare her soul and, in this case, deep regret. It deals with an incident that occurred when she was eighteen years old and failed to intervene when she witnessed a father beating his young son after school. The hurt in her voice is tangible not least to her teachers indifferent reaction. The song, despite its raw subject matter, is nevertheless a slice of pure pop gold. The same judgement applies to “Texas Funeral” a quiet/loud anthem full of choppy chords and ramshackle beauty. Other tracks like “Waitress” show that the band have studied “In an Aeroplane over the sea” diligently, in short “lo-fi but lush”. Throughout Quinlan’s band comrades provide solid support although to hear her “go acoustic” on “Happy to see me” showcases an extraordinary talent who these musicians must treasure and nurture.
Hop Along have enough special ingredients to rise above the indie crowd and surgically strike in territory occupied by some of the most popular new US bands. They have recently supported “War on Drugs” and time in the company of the great Adam Granducial can do not harm. “Painted Shut” really is a very good album, full of gold medal songs and a singer to die for.
The Fat Angel Sings 