This is excellent. Honestly, it's exactly what I wanted from them. Mixes in the experimentation from Rituals but also pulls the vibe from Old Souls and Countless Nights. I've been listening to this daily since release and just loving it.
After spending a week with this, I love it. Can't stop listening. Really enjoy how Pocari Sweat flows perfectly from Rituals and sets the tone for this album at the same time. James is such a good vocalist that if you told me one of my favorite songs would feature Matty on lead vocals, I'd call you crazy - but I absolutely love title track. Band is too good. Wish they would tour the US again, but I doubt it'll ever happen.
Totally agree with this. 19dreams with both of them trading off vocals rules too. And agreed about a US tour. It sounds like the last time they tried it it didn’t go well, and I’m sad to hear that… wish I had been able to go at the time, they’ve been one of my favorite bands for years.
Most of the bands I consider my "favorites" have been favorites since the late 90's/2000's (3EB, Blink, Yellowcard, JEW, anything Andrew McMahon). I feel like it takes a lot nowadays for a band to be added to that list. Really only Deaf Havana and Grayscale have made the cut in recent years with Deaf Havana climbing the ranks with each album.
On my first listen of this (I've been on a huge Fleetwood Mac kick recently so I put off listening on release) and this is pretty good so far. I don't think it's hitting me like Rituals but James has always been such a great storyteller with his lyrics and incredible voice so it's hard not to get sucked in with music from him.
What's a good starting point for this band? I definitely listened to one album by these guys a while back and enjoyed it
The song Sinner (and the album Rituals) got me into the band and then I worked my way backwards. I couldn't get into the first album though at all, but everything after that is solid
Rituals - then All These Countless Nights or The Present Is a Foreign Land after them Fools and Worthless Liars and Old Souls. My personal favorite is Rituals but ATTCN & TPIAFL are top tier as well.
If you want something more pop-centric, Rituals is a great starting point. This band does something really cool and re-records some of their albums in different styles, so you really have two options for a few of their records. My first intro to them was the "acoustic" (it's not really acoustic) version of Fools and Worthless Liars, which I think is a good starting point if you've ever wished there was a pop-punk album with heavy folk/Irish influence that wasn't as aggressive as Dropkick Murphys. Just don't start with Meet Me Halfway, At Least. If you're not into screamo, you won't like it. And if you are into screamo, you'll be disappointed that the rest of their albums aren't like it at all.
Ross from The 1975 reposted a photo of Deaf Havana in the studio working on new music - guessing he’s collaborating with them in some capacity
I was just wondering what was going on with these guys the other week. I wasn't big into their last album but Rituals was all killer.
October 3rd. 1. Life in Forward Motion 2. Carousel 3. Break 4. Lawn Tennis 5. Car Crash 6. Hurts To Be Lonely 7. Frida, 1939 8. Dog 9. Cigarettes & Hotel Beds 10. We're Never Getting Out 11. Tracing Lines 12. I'll Be Around
I absolutely loved this band during that three album stretch from Fools & Worthless Liars, through Old Souls, to All These Countless Nights. I found the last two super patchy, and I wasn’t a fan of the Love Island esque sound on Rituals. But, I’ll definitely check this out.
Definitely a different vibe for them again - more straightforward almost indie pop/rock sound I’d say. It’s growing on me, but want more already to really judge
I still think Rituals is my favourite album from them in the last decade. New song is neither here nor there for me unfortunately. Hopefully it grows on me.
Cool vibe, but yeah, different again. It seems like they scrapped an entire album's worth of material and started over again, if I remember some insta post correctly. Ross (1975) played bass on the album. I still think peak Deaf Havana was Old Souls-ATCN-Few songs off Rituals. The songwriting was just so insanely strong in that era. The last album was all over the place and didn't give me much.
These guys really did drop off the face of the earth for 2 years. Glad they're back though, excited for this
New song is here and literally so good compared to the first one. Sounds like something off of Rituals. Also you can see The 1975 touch all over it, even the first few seconds.