Tag: album review

Hot Chip – One Life Stand

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HotChip-OneLifeStandRating: ★★★★☆

By now, surely everyone has his or her expectations of what a Hot Chip record should sound like.  You’ve got the club bangers, and you’ve got the geek-tronica that makes you questions just why you’re moving to and fro.  Their fourth album, One Life Stand, sees the band doing much of the same, yet they finally honed their craft enough to create an album with very few imperfections.

One of the record’s longest songs, “Thieves in the Night” kick off the whole affair.  While the beats remain catchy, they aren’t as in your face as you’ve found on previous efforts, which actually propels the song along without letting the listener grow tired of redundant house beats.  You can follow that up with another similar tune, “Hand Me Down Your Love,” where the electronic elements actually aren’t forcing you to dance at all, yet you can tap your feet along just as well.  It’s reminiscent of Erasure (or Republic era New Order), a band who wrote love songs that could just as easily be enjoyed lyrically as you could dance to them.  This is sort of the story of One Life Stand; it’s no longer about creating great dance tunes, but just great tunes period, which Hot Chip does for the most part.

Middling point kind of dies down the minor tempo, slowing it down just a bit further.  The trifecta of “Brothers,” “Slush” and “Alley Cat” all take a step back from focused electronica in favor of fleshing out complete songs, albeit ones that include electronic components.  “Alley Cat” is possibly the best of the three tracks, due mostly to the fact that the band has composed such songs without going too far out with their experimentation.  In the past, the usage of too many elements often busied certain tracks, rendering them irritating upon repeated listens; this is no longer the case.  The away the created “Alley Cats” leaves the perfect amount of room where it should be, whilst still including certain touches for the die-hard Hot Chip fan.

Closing out the album, Hot Chip go back to where you want them, hitting you with the edgier “Take It In.”  It’s a dark number, but then it opens up in the middle, bringing you back to the light.  It sort of encapsulates the whole of One Life Stand.  You’ve got some electronic fused tunes kicking up the pace in the beginning, only to sort of relax and leave room for sitting back in the middle of the record.  You can’t argue with such an ending, and you don’t need to do it, as the group has clearly closed the record in the most appropriate way.

Throughout the years, we’ve watched Hot Chip tinker with their own recipe of electro-pop.  Finally, they’ve made enough breakthroughs, as well as missteps, to have landed upon what seems to be their final recipe.  It’s hard to imagine that they’ll create much better than One Life Stand; of course, we can always hope they take the lessons learned and push even further into their development of great electronic music.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Hot-Chip-Take-It-In.mp3]

Download: Hot Chip – Take It In [MP3]

Yeasayer – Odd Blood

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yeaRating: ★★★½☆

Finally the time has come for the release of the much anticipated follow up to All Hour Cymbals, and Yeasayer has switched it all up for you with the newest release, Odd Blood. Where they once dabbled in world music with a hint of electronic elements, they have turned the tables, choosing instead to go with electronic music that takes aim at taking over the world.  Your first listen might not offer too much, as this is a listen that requires several listens to completely unfold what lies beneath.

“The Children” opens up the album with some gothic samples that recalls old industrial music from the eighties, and the dark auto-tuned vocals keep the mood quite eerie, but there are some moments of lightness, which set the tone for the rest of the album.

We then come to the spectacular “Ambling Alp,” the band’s first single off Odd Blood. You wouldn’t be too far off if you didn’t notice some resemblance to Animal Collective, at least in the usage of samples, but the vocals don’t seem as intrusive as the latter band.  Really, this song is all over the place, which is perhaps why it’s so charming after repeated listens.

For the next three tracks you get transported immediately back to the eighties with Yeasayer. This isn’t an entirely bad thing, as the group doesn’t in their own particular way, incorporating more of their tribal meets world music instrumentation to the tunes. The opening moments of “Madder Red” as the vocals kick in just bring pure ecstatic joy, and “ONE” is just wonderful.  I love the way they play with the vocals, and then bounce right into the dance elements for the chorus.  All these songs benefit from the fact that there are extemporaneous elements all over the place, which makes the spin on such music more diverse than most of their modern-day equivalents.

When you come to the latter half of Odd Blood, you’ll find that the energy isn’t as fast paced as the early part of the record.  It feels as if the band is rushing themselves, especially when you come to songs like “Mondegreen,” a song full of horns and rhythmic vocal displays, but the elements here don’t seem to be as cohesive as they were on the early half.  Those extra touches that added so much to the first six songs sort of dissipate; this is something that causes the second half of the record to seem a bit less powerful than the first.

Throughout its duration, Odd Blood is full of so many different twists and turns that you have to give the band credit for being so exploratory in their efforts.  It might not be the most complete album the band will make, but it demonstrates that Yeasyer are willing to push themselves, and their listeners, towards a maximum musical listening experience. Cheers to that.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/01-Ambling-Alp-1.mp3]

Download: Yeasayer – Ambling Alp [MP3]

The Album Leaf – A Chorus of Storytellers

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thealbumleafRating: ★★★☆☆

A Chorus of Storytellers is Jimmy LaValle’s third album for indie label Sub Pop, and at it’s finest moments, it proves that this is the most cohesive Album Leaf record to date.  While it maintains many of the electronic flourishes that existed on past works, the latest piece somehow comes together a little bit tighter, forming stronger collection of songs.

For me, it all starts with the title, and for that part, the cover art.  Artists of this ilk can rely upon these mediums to further their message.  Sure, all artists should do this, but it’s even more important with acts that remain instrumental.  And the title,  A Chorus of Storytellers, should really say it all.  While I’ve lambasted electronic music in the past, it is works such as this that strive to make a coherent story, to create a plot within their music.  Such is the story within this record, as illustrated on the cover.   It just begs you to create your own story of the man ashore while his boat drifts aimlessly away.

Of course, one thing that differentiates this album from purely electronic or post-rock music, if you wish to call it that, is the inclusion of songs which use lyrics.  “Falling From the Sun,” for example, is a pleasant enough tune, and you can easily follow as the melody rises and falls, especially in the vocal performance.  But, moments such as this make things to clear for the listener; this is something that detracts from the overall listening experience.  Lyrics, in this case, push a story upon you when you’d rather just float off into your own world.

You can take a song like “Within Dreams,” which in itself recalls the ability to drift off with your own thoughts.  Slowly, you can feel the song fall asleep on you, as if you too are going into that deep REM sleep.  Then you can hear the faint touches of string instruments, and you’re off an running in a dream of your own.  It is here where LaValle succeeds the most, as he allows you to immerse yourself in the song, and take the song wherever you want to go.  Happily, it’s not constructed of mere loops, and the national progression lends itself to the telling of tales.  “Until the Last” is another such song; it is along the lines of Balmorhea or even a less-dangerous version of Mogwai.

Up until the middle point of the album, the record is really strong.  It has its ups and downs, but it also adds enough diversity for you to be invested wholly into the album.  However, towards the end, there are a bit too many songs with vocals.  This isn’t a disaster by any means, as the songs are actually really good, “Almost There” in particular, but it does break up the flow of the album.  Still, A Chorus of Storytellers provides many listenable moments that prove Jimmy and The Album Leaf still can concoct magic out of their post-rcok potions.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/05-Falling-From-The-Sun.mp3]

Download: The Album Leaf – Falling From The Sun [MP3]

The Soft Pack – s/t

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soft packRating: ★½☆☆☆

A few years back a band by the name of The Muslims exploded out of California with the supposed surf-rock answer to The Strokes. Now, the band has changed their name to The Soft Pack, and have released their self-titled album on Kemado Records. It’s exactly what you would expect from a California garage group.

Upon listening to the first track, “C’mon,” the band’s formula is immediately apparent.  They combine mild surf guitars with the fueling of a garage practice space, and they lyrics have a slight hint of punk drawl delivery.  But, what listeners will see is that the lyrics are severely lacking in the developmental sense.  The only words that really stand out are “c’mon,” uttered over and over again.

By the third track, “Answer to Yourself,” nothing much has changed in the structure of the album.  Lyrics are overtly redundant, and clearly lacking in any creative sense. Musically, it just seems like a consistent re-hash of song after song.  There’s a definite energy to the group, but you’ll be hard pressed at this point to find much else in the offering.

When you get to “Pull Out” the bass is a little bit heavier, while the guitars are reminiscent of living close to the waters.  Still, water is the only thing that really comes to mind at this juncture in the album.  Everything about the band just comes across as watered-down, and just out of touch.  It’s not something that you can stand up and say that you hate because it really isn’t horrendous musically, it just isn’t anything that warrants listening to time and time again.  It’s almost as if the band is treading water in the same place for the duration of the record.  Tired of the water analogy?

What once seemed like a promising moment for the band seems to have slipped away as The Soft Pack has compiled a solid set of forgettable songs that you won’t remember when their gone.  It’s quite a shame that all this work and popularity came to nought for the band.  Garage moments and surf-guitars are great, but in this day and age something has to be done to distinguish yourself from the masses in order to reach the pinnacle of the genre, and it’s hard to find a standout moment on the album, aside from the joke track “Move-Along,” which is more of just a “WTF?” moment than anything.  This is just one man’s opinion, but you won’t find the self-titled album from The Soft Pack spinning around my house any time soon.

Midlake – The Courage of Others

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Midlake-The_Courage_of_OthersRating: ★★☆☆☆

When Denton, TX band, Midlake, released The Trials of Van Occupanther in 2006, they received critical acclaim, which put the pressure on the group to follow up with similar success.  Four years later, the band has finally prepared the next installment in their catalogue, The Courage of Others.  Influences for the album are said to rest somewhere in the British-folk era, but would the four years since their last release match the acclaim the band received last go round?

Upon first listen, “Acts of Man” opens the introduction with Tim Smith’s trademark vocals, seemingly floating on the winds.  As a completed song, it does have the wintry affect one would associate with a lot of 60s folk-undertakings, marked most notably by the way the guitar is strummed.  Still, there isn’t a wow factor, or something that stands out as brilliant, like “Roscoe,” but it’s only the first track.

But, herein likes the problem with The Courage of Others; you can make it through the first four songs of the album, and nothing really differentiates itself; nothing is begging for you to come back for a repeat visit.  Admittedly, all the songs are pleasant enough, with gentle guitars and Smith’s floating vocals, which can’t really hurt the overall value of the album.  However, it doesn’t bode well that nothing really seems to change in the craftsmanship of the songs either; they all sort of stay in the same place, as if they’ve been created as small pieces to fit into a larger puzzle.

“Fortune” is one of the few songs on the album where the approach to writing the music seems to have been altered.  It’s got little to no percussion, and the song rests on the idea that Smith appears as some sort of musical bard, just picking his way through his life.  It also touches with imagery that is more personal than some of the more nature related themes you’ll find elsewhere on the The Courage of Others.

This isn’t to say that all the blandness doesn’t have its rewards.  “Bring It Down” is worthy of repeated listens, and though it clearly has roots in the past, the barely audible female vocal buried beneath the lead vocal tracks adds an extra bit of layering that the entire album could of used as a whole.  “In the Ground” is another number that grows with repeats.  It begins a bit slow, but there’s just a bit of a quiver in the vocal delivery, which does just enough to make it come across a bit differently, though those flutes (are they horns) get a touch annoying.

After four years of waiting, you would have hoped that the next work from Midlake was as rewarding as their previous effort, but it seems that letting the songs fester for too long might have led the band down the path towards complacency.  For what its worth, The Courage of Others is listenable, but other than that, it’s far short of remarkable, which makes it a disappointment to many, if not most.

Four Tet – There Is Love in You

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four_tet_there_is_love_in_youRating: ★★☆☆☆

Kieran Hebden has been at this game longer than most, so it’s no surprise that people expected big things from his latest effort under the Four Tet moniker.   There Is Love In You has already garnered a lot of interest over the Internet, though one must look at it through their own looking glass in order to fully evaluate where this record falls.

For me, I’m not one to fall easily for Intelligent Dance Music, and it really has to be something to knock me off my feet in order me to appreciate it, let alone even contemplate trying to understand it.  I remember Aphex Twin videos blowing me away, but that was based more upon twisted imagery in the videos.  DJ Shadow blew me away, but at the time, I had a faint interest in hip-hop.  But now, I’m not really into that sort of thing, especially since it lacks solid vocal involvement, which is one of the main reasons I listen to the stuff I do.

Now, as far as this album goes, I’m going to have to stand on the sidelines and watch the rest of the adoring fans as they chase Kieran Hebden around.  Song after song just seems like really simple loops being placed atop each other at certain intervals.  At times, like during the aptly titled “Sing,” you get some fearful moaning of sorts in the background, but nothing worthy of latching onto as a whole.

For me, there has to be some sort of sharp shift in the music, some sort of influential piece of movement within a song, and this, by and large doesn’t really seem to have that sort of craftsmanship to it.  Given, the use of space and timing here does seem to accomplish the affects that Hebden is associated with in his work, but I can’t lie and tell you that any of it is all that interesting. After more than a dozen listens, this album only made me focus more on my immediate surroundings as opposed to this record, which I suppose is a lot to say for an album.

The duration of There Is Love In You allows for the listener to look within himself (herself, if you so choose) while the content of the loops and layering of sounds only makes things appear more cosmic, in a sense.  You can feel yourself being absorbed into your surrounding, sinking within yourself, and that is entirely due to the non-invasive quality of the music on Four Tet‘s latest album.  It’s perfect for what it is.  It allows you to successfully pass the time while being absorbed in your own world.  Perhaps my anxiety about the world’s plights have always served as a blockage to my understanding of IDM, and for that I apologize.  Remember, this is just one man’s opinion of walking alone with this album, absorbed in himself for once, thanks to this album.

Retribution Gospel Choir – 2

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retributionRating: ★★★★☆

If you’ve been following closely along the careerpath of Low, you might have noticed that around 2005 the band turned it up a bit with The Great Destroyer, then forging further ahead with Drums & Guns.  Why does the diveregence of a great minimalist band such as Low matter here?  Well, this is Alan Sparhawks band, and the only difference between this and Low is the absence of his wife Mimi in exchange for drummer Eric Pollard.  All this leads to one thing, 2, the second proper Retribution Gospel Choir album,  is a further illustration that despite the solitude of old Low records, Alan seems to have always wanted to rock.

“Hide It Away” builds from the minute you press play on your stereo, with Pollard’s drums lying in the background, providing a steady, if not powerful, backbone for the song.  Of course, Sparhawk’s vocals soar in the foreground, with just the faintest hint of waivering.

If you didn’t believe he had this need for rock building in him for a long time, just check the forty second long “68 Comeback,” which begins with a bit of an homage to Black Sabbath (Paranoid?).  This jumps right into the arena rocking moment that is “Workin Hard.”  The chugging guitars and stomping drum sound all feel as if this was destined to fill out a large arena, yet somehow Sparhawk makes it feel rather intimate; a specialty he places here and there in his entire catalogue.

Still, you can feel the presence of his past workings throughout the record.  Take “Poor Man’s Daughter,” for instance; it’s a song that feels an awful lot like 90s College Radio Rock, yet there is a certain depth that all Low records have that is present here too.   There are also little mini-suites like the previously mentioned “68 Comeback” that show the group using ambient moments to influence to overall atmosphere of the record.

Personally, “White Wolf” is definitely a favorite number on 2. It sort of begins with a J. Mascis type riff, which brings back the whole classic alternative rock appeal that is present here, and when the chorus kicks in you just can’t help but feel elated.  It gets straight to the point, and just hits you all the way through.  Then it ends.  This remains one of the most pleasant things about this album; the brevity of the songs allows for ultimate enjoyment. A lof of current guitar albums get a bit too over-indulgent (I’m looking at you metalheads), choosing to hear themselve, and their “chops,”  more than craft the perfect song.   Here, there is no such thing (if you get rid of one song, but don’t because it’s good).  It makes for a precise rock album, one that fulfills without wasting too much time.

Alan Sparhawk has always been able to craft great songs, and this time he shows that he can do so by turning up the amps, and cranking out the energy.  If you love Low, as I do, then you’ll surely find that 2 and Retribution Gospel Choir are perfectly suited for you.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/06-White-Wolf-1.mp3]

Download: Retribution Gospel Choir – White Wolf [MP3]

Los Campesinos! – Romance is Boring

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romance-is-boringRating: ★★½☆☆

Just looking at the blood dripping down the leg of the cover of Romance is Boring, and you can tell that there is a dark shift in the writing of Los Campesinos!. Long have they been a band of rapturous joy and sheer energy, but as we grow older, ultimately our views begin to shift.  This is a record of changing winds; it is a band looking in new directions.

On “A Heat Rash…” you can immediately tell that the band, while retaining some of their trademark sounds, has switched gears, albeit just slightly.  Musically, there is still an overall feeling of joy amidst Gareth’s lyrics, but the fervent energy seems somewhat absent here.  It seems that the urgency of the band has dissipated with the times.

Yes, you will find the traditional Los Campesinos! tracks filled with possibly too much noise for one listener; you’ll find those songs that encourage you to scream atop your lungs with the band, such as “This is a Flag. There is No Wind” or “Straight in at 101.”  These songs bring energy to the group, reminding you of the band’s original sound, but overall, such rambunctious moments are few and far between here, which may be disheartening to long-time fans of the group.

Instead, you’ll stumble across slow movers like “Coda: A Burn Scar in the Shape of the Sooner State.”  While Gareth’s vocals are coated in minor distortion, the group itself recalls a gloomier version of I’m From Barcelona.  Multiple instruments come in and out with the song fading away into walls of feedback.  This isn’t the only tune that demonstrates a more solemn side of the band. “In Media Res” messes with the song structure that the LC has often employed, using quiet moments back to back with louder constructive moments within the song.  It’s not a slow number, but it definitely doesn’t have the pace of previous efforts.

When you hit across the record’s title track, “Romance is Boring,” for some reason, the album seems kind of muddled.  It’s as if the group set out with one thing in mind, yet they were unable to deliver upon their ideas, or at least they weren’t comfortable straying too far away from their comfort zone.  It’s filled with noise, a la the usual LC stuff, but experimenting with feedback and distortion gets a bit annoying at times.  And if you ask me (which you didn’t) the gang vocals by album three are getting a little bit tiresome, as are Gareth’s lyrics.  What once seemed clever, now seems a bit banal.

For some reason, it seems as if the group just came across a bunch of old alternative records, and they decided that loud frequencies would be rewarding for their live sound, which is quite possible, though it doesn’t translate to the album.  “I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed So You Know,” the closing track, just seems like a bunch of children messing around in their garage.  And wait until you hear the metal moments on “I Warned You Do Not Make an Enemy of Me.”  Did they really put those guitars in there?

By the end of Romance is Boring, it seems that Los Campesinos! have finally warn their listeners down.  They don’t seem nearly as cohesive as they once did, which encourages a lot of the noisier moments to come across in quite an amateur fashion.  It’s loud and boisterous, but it’s too much so at times.  It seems that the band has split their personalities on this, leaving them stuck in the middle somewhere.  It makes for an uneven album, one that doesn’t do the group as much justice as you hoped it would. It’s not nearly as fun as the group CAN be, and not nearly as dark as they seem to want to be.  Expect the next album to make a decision for us and them.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/The-Sea-Is-A-Good-Place-To-Think-Of-The-Future.mp3]

Download: Los Campesinos! – The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future [MP3]

Beach House – Teen Dream

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beach-house_teen-dreamRating: ★★★½☆

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t quite gotten on the Beach House bandwagon. In the past, their dreamy bedroom pop has just seemed far too dull for me to ever fully absorb; I’ll admit that’s a fault of my own and not the music.  Yet listening to Teen Dream, something else unfolds.  There isn’t some grand gesture that comes out of nowhere; it’s just that the logical progression of the group has finally caught up with my own personal tastes.

From the opening moments that the guitar comes into play on “Zebra” I found myself captivated immediately.  Gentle “ahhhs” in the background create a perfect introduction to the song, allowing for the vocals to carry the song the rest of the way.  Sure, it’s not the most moving song in the world, but it holds the listener with an emotional appeal, one that is only heightened by the percussion that comes in near the end of the song.

When you come upon “Norway,” it’s obvious why this would come out as the single for the record.  Electronic maneuvers bring life to the album, although it’s odd that those little flourishes seem somewhat out of tune (anyone else?).  The “ay ay aay” of the chorus is playful in the manner that it strings out the mono-syllabic moments into perfect resonant melodies.  This song is backed up by “Walk in the Park,” which seems a lot like a Papercuts track.  Programmed percussion atop those echo-y vocals builds the perfect cascading pop moment, which shows that the band, though often stuck in one place, can evoke quite a bit of emotion.

“Better Times” wears the influence, seemingly, of Chairlift, using electronic structures to build the backbone of the song wile waiting for the rest of the song’s sound to come together.  Vocals definitely carry this song, and you can tell that the focus on achieving the perfect tonality definitely aids the tune as a whole.  It’s at this point where you start to see the past and the present finally start gel, bringing the best moments out of the duo, especially when the quickened vocal delivery starts in with about two minutes remaining.

Coming into the last song, it honestly is hard to find a throwaway track.  All the songs on the album work cohesively, and finally the music seems to have shown some movement overall. “Take Care” captures all the little moments from the album, throwing them together in Teen Dream‘s final chapter.  Yet, there are some moments here that illustrate the one detractor I still have in listening to Beach House.  Near the three minute mark the percussion could easily pick up, or let loose, yet the band restrains itself.  In doing so, they lose the propensity for sending the listeners off on an ultimate high note of euphoric musical waves, instead leaving them to rest precisely where the album began.

In conclusion, Teen Dream is a really good record, one that all Beach House fans will surely fall in love with after purchase.  For  those like myself, who largely ignored the band(though I’ve seen them three times), this might be the record that forces you to go back and look a little closer at the group’s catalog.  Personally, I still find that they don’t take enough musical risks, choosing to hold back when I’d like to see them let go a little bit, but that’s just my preference.  For the rest of you, you’ll find that this record is more than just one to go to sleep with at night; it’s an album to be played at all times, which is really all you can ask for from Beach House. Move over folks, I’m ready to jump on the wagon now.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Beach-House-Norway.mp3]

Download: Beach House – Norway [MP3]

The Magnetic Fields – Realism

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fieldsRating: ★★★½☆

When The Magnetic Fields last put some tracks down on tape with Distortion, we saw the band with a wash of feedback and, well, distortion.  They return, however, with Realism, a record with cleaner production, purposefully, and one that allows the minimalist chamber pop group to open up their doors once again to the more enchanting orchestration of mastermind Stephin Merritt.

Choosing to open the album with “You Must Be Losing Your Mind” is an appropriate choice for the group, as it reflects the traditional songwriting structure that the band used to win over so man fans with 69 Love Songs. Combining the low-end vocals of Merritt with Claudia Gonson creates a sublime juxtaposition.  Musically, it also goes back a bit, which will immediately remind avid fans, and new listeners, how great the band can be when they’re at their best.

By the third song, you find the group at their most playful during “We Are Having a Hootenanny.”  Well, lyrically, its extremely playful, especially with the buzz Merritt attaches to words ending in “s” or “z.”  For some listeners, this will be the precise moment when they get lost in the joy that is the listening experience of having The Magnetic Fields on repeat. Sure, the lyrics aren’t something that will shake you to your core, but the wit used with the rhyme schemes, as well as supplying bountiful oddities, always creates a pleasurable listen.

“Walk a Lonely Road” and “I Don’t Know What to Say” are those perfect pop moments that we all appreciate in Merritt.  You find him low in the vocal range, barely above the level of the music itself, which makes you listen even more closely.  Gentle strumming of the ukulele, or one of its cousins, in these songs consistently resembles some sort of medieval folk tune, which is perhaps why they get lumped into the chamber pop group.  Still, for me, there is always something magical in those moments, as if I’m listening to something that I feel doesn’t fit into my everyday listening, yet it only makes me adore it even more. If you listen to “Seduced and Abandoned,” and do not feel yourself immediately transported back to the times of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms then perhaps you’re not listening close enough.

Yet, the one thing that keeps this album from rising to the top of the band’s overall catalog, which in all honesty is near perfect.  There seems to be a lacking in creativity that was present early on in the album, despite having “The Dada Polka” near the record’s end. For some reason, you feel as if the earlier passion and creativity sort of ran out near the end of recording; it loses the cohesiveness of the album as a whole. Still, there is the saving grace in “From a Sinking Boat.”

It’s strange, but the end of The Magnetic Fields‘ albums always has this one brilliant moment that inevitably brings you back to falling in love with the band. Once again, you find the cello entertaining the tinkering piano, while Merritt sings, barely audible above the instrumentation.  It’s a slow mover, yet it’s a bookend to the entire album. It closes with a bright moment, just as it began.  While the moments in between may not always be the band’s best, it’s hard to find something truly wrong with any of the songs in this collection; this is just another record to enjoy time and time again, as like all MF albums, Realism sort of feels timeless.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/01-You-Must-Be-Out-Of-Your-Mind.mp3]

Download: The Magnetic Fields – You Must Be Out Of Your Mind [MP3]

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