One Liner: Very good indie rock (which makes it a mistake to have just also reviewed Death Cab and War on Drugs).
Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, alternative rock, indie folk, art rock, emo, post-hardcoreHome: Atlanta.
Poster Position: 7 (same line as 2018!)
Weekend One Only. Saturday.
The most streamed song, the very excellent "The Gold," calls to mind Iron and Wine or Lord Huron or Death Cab. Slightly rockin', very emotional, powerful indie rock tune. Has just over 27.8 million streams (although there is a newer version with Pheobe Bridgers that has fired up even more with 32.5 million). This is the original.
I endorse this message. Very good song. From 2017's A Black Mile to the Surface. That whole album is a wonderful thing. Several of their top songs are from that album and it is really good. Other songs on the Black Mile album get to rockin', now that I've run through the whole catalog here, know that its not all tender Iron and Wine vibing. "The Moth" kinda jams. In fact, that whole album is very good, bouncing back and forth between the two sides of this band's sound. I very much like the chilled sound like "The Gold" and "The Alien," but also enjoy the rawk. This album is good enough for me to save it for future streams.
I liked these guys, leading up to Austin City Limits this year, but after seeing them throw down on stage and now re-listening to this album, I'm deeply digging it. Got some gentle Lord Huron/Iron & Wine vibes at times, got some rock and roll shred senses at other times, and I'm all in for the combination. Also a good Band of Horses vibe at times, another band I like. On stage, they were surprisingly shoved over on the grungy riffage side of the equation, but this album is generally pretty relaxed and lovely. "The Gold" is the hit up above, but let's also do "The Alien," which has 10.7 million streams.
Great song. Powerful, emotive stuff. And if you go read the lyrics, it sure sounds like it is about a guy who had his ears cut off by his drunken dad and then later tried to commit suicide by ramming his car into a bunch of people. WTF, man. Whatever, very good album.
So who is this band? Interesting that they are from Atlanta. Their name immediately brings to mind the Madchester scene, with like, the string section from "Bittersweet Symphony" as a constant portion of the band, but instead they are pretty distinctly American sounding. The main guy, Andy Hull, says that he was 16 when he formed the band, and was super into The Smiths, who are from Manchester, and then the Orchestra part came in because he wanted to make it clear that he was the conductor of the band of high school kids, and others could come and go like a regular orchestra. Weird, but OK. I can guarantee you my band names I came up with at age 16 were waaaay dumber than that. I wanted a tattoo of a toaster for crying out loud.
Odd factoid, they apparently created the soundtrack to the super weird movie Swiss Army Man. That movie was no good. Harry Potter fart factory was not even the strangest part of it. Another factoid, clap me on the back because I predicted this band would come to ACL. I am a knower of things.
Odd factoid, they apparently created the soundtrack to the super weird movie Swiss Army Man. That movie was no good. Harry Potter fart factory was not even the strangest part of it. Another factoid, clap me on the back because I predicted this band would come to ACL. I am a knower of things.
They have a deep and long catalog, which I don't really recall from prior times of listening to them. 2005's You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, but Brilliance Needs a Good Editor seriously sounds like Death Cab and the Shins, even down to a different singing voice. I don't love it. Also, that EP name blows. They then released I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child (also a shit album name) and then 2009's Mean Everything to Nothing, which are more like, uh, emo punk? Yelping rough vocals and taut guitar like Gaslight Anthem or Dashboard Confessional. Here is the band's second most listened to track from that latter album, "Shake It Out," with 15 million streams.
Still a pretty good song, although I think I'd prefer the more chilled out sound to the older emo rock thing. 2011's Simple Math was not very successful, but at least it started to sound like the key components of the sound that they have now.
2014's HOPE is actually a little like an Avett Brothers sound - especially on "Girl Harbor" - or Ray LaMontaigne sound. Then 2013's COPE goes more rock and roll, driving guitars. Ah, ha! Actually, those two albums are the same songs, just two different versions of the songs - rocking COPE and acoustic/chilled HOPE. Interesting. I like both of them - kind of cool to take rock and roll and strip off the sneer to reveal the emotional core beneath. Neat to put them side by side. I really like COPE, got some punk and emo elements.
After Black Mile, they released a single, "No Hard Feelings," released in March 2018, and so far with 1.8mm streams.
There are a few albums in their Spotify listing that are attributed to Bad Books, Manchester Orchestra, and Kevin Devine. Which is odd. They are not as good as the regular tunes though.
Their final album is 2021's The Million Masks of God. You can hear the earnestness they bring to the stage in this album - its the kind of stuff that starts with a whisper and then fills the entire atmosphere. Hell, just the title of the album is pretty damn earnest and arena-sized. But I really like the combination here of the singer's tenderness in his vocals, added to the frequently bombastic music behind him. "Bedhead" is the hit so far, I've been hearing it on the local Sun radio station for a year, but I'm going to give you number 3 in streams - "Keel Timing" with just over 3 million streams.
That is actually a cover of an Avett Brothers song. And it makes me want to get all emotional and hug my dog and tearfully sob into his fur as I recall loss. Oh criminy, I was making a joke, and then I read the second comment on the YouTube video for that song, which is from someone saying that this song made them feel slightly better in the end of their fight with cancer, and so I just randomly cried at my desk for real while listening to this song. Stupid freaking cancer. Lovely tune though.
There are a few albums in their Spotify listing that are attributed to Bad Books, Manchester Orchestra, and Kevin Devine. Which is odd. They are not as good as the regular tunes though.
Their final album is 2021's The Million Masks of God. You can hear the earnestness they bring to the stage in this album - its the kind of stuff that starts with a whisper and then fills the entire atmosphere. Hell, just the title of the album is pretty damn earnest and arena-sized. But I really like the combination here of the singer's tenderness in his vocals, added to the frequently bombastic music behind him. "Bedhead" is the hit so far, I've been hearing it on the local Sun radio station for a year, but I'm going to give you number 3 in streams - "Keel Timing" with just over 3 million streams.
The driving start is so nice when it rolls into his whispered start, and then the whole thing just builds until it spills out into a jam. I really like it.
I'd absolutely watch these guys again. I really like it.
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