Been listening all day and loving it more and more. Not sure it will top NMG for me, but that’s a pretty damn high bar for me.
Speak with the dead being released as single so early is criminal. I didn’t overplay it but man would have loved to have been surprised by it as a closer. It fucking bangs.
yeah really confused on why speak with the dead was their first release from this. Excellent closer and song but noooottttt it for a single.
I appreciated the moments of levity - Conor's personality and speech patterns come through very authentically - it truly reads like a conversation. I also appreciated the way you broached specific subjects (releasing the closer as the first single, for instance, which has come up in this thread quite a few times) in a way that didn't corner Conor to 'defend' a creative decision so much as open the door to discussing the rationale behind said decision, organically gave way to discussing the process of writing/developing SWTD. And that opened the door to the meditation on grief and the "end" of the pandemic. The stuff about Conor and Eric was really interesting, and vulnerable, and I can't imagine that topic being explored unless Conor felt super comfortable, so hats off to you again on a job well done.
Hey Drew, good job on the interview. Only thing I would ask is whether you think the article could be more engaging and easier to read without the “um”, “ah”, “kind of”, “it’s like” speech fillers? I’m certainly no expert, but I feel the advantage of written interviews, as opposed to live interviews, is that you can polish it (without losing the message of course).
this is better on repeated listens as the singles become more familiar as tracks within the album and not...singles
yeah thanks for bringing that up - sometimes I keep it in for like the easy going flow and the light editing I enjoy doing and sometimes I just get lazy and forget to remove all of them haha
I appreciate this so much! yeah that's always my goal with any interview is for it to just be a normal conversations - I never prepare any questions for it and I think that really helps artists open up with me
Pretty casual fan of these guys but after just one listen this is in my AOTY discussion. Insanely good record
I have loved this band since seeing them open for Seahaven back in 2014. Since then they have become one of my favorite bands to see live. Sitting down and listening to this for the first time last night, I felt like I was listening to something truly special. I've loved every album this band has put out but this one is on a whole other level. It's like everything has finally all come together for them. Strong AOTY contender for sure.
AOTY for me no question. I’ve only had a few passing listens to the new songs that weren’t released, Cold Blooded is my favorite out of all of those. Fucking crazy song about a very specific feeling. But every single one was amazing. Can’t wait to spend a lot of time with this. If they don’t blow the fuck up with this record something is wrong with the world
Holy shit, this is so good. Every single goddamn song is a hit. I really hope they can get enough fans to be able to live comfortably. It’s refreshing (but kinda depressing) that they’re so open with disillusionment and how hard it is to (try to) make a living being a musician