The Positions is absolutely incredible, maybe as much as GFIL in its own way, and yeah the EP is just packed full of massive tunes except for maybe "Strange Diseases" in other words, yes, it is
They posted a note about the EP on socials and said there's "more to come," so maybe the album is closer than we think?
They’ve always had a slight National vibe but asleep in the back sounds soooo much like them. Great song. Wonder if these other two tracks hint at the “departure” the next albums gonna take. Doesn’t sound too far off from GFIL so I’m guessing not. edit: lol asleep in the back is a cover, I’m dumb. Still sounds a lot like The National imo!
I’m so glad they released more than just a single (even though the single is my favourite of the 3 songs released). Ep’s a great way to get music out and keep fans interested, experiment and have covers. The Asleep cover and Unison would have fit in our their previous EP upon first listen. I do hope they keep some songs with the “band sound” with guitar stuff, but David’s voice is so good when he wants to show it off.
the release of an EP, even a short one, made me think the record is farther than I expected. I hope you’re right! Also, unrelated but they seemed to make it clear before that Angel would be the very last song we heard in that vein and that anything else would be quite different. The last 2 songs are somewhat different, especially the second, but way less so than they implied lol.
the Nick Cave reference on "unison", so good also idk the last minute of this song feels totally different to anything they've done before. I was taking his comments to mean this EP was the last of the old sound before the coming album though
sorry for the triple post but here's what their email says if you're on the mailing list: "today we release total serene, and with it, the song “unison”. the track is the first release to feature samples taken from the archives of renowned composer, explorer and recordist david fanshawe. in the late 1970’s, fanshawe travelled to the pacific islands and commenced work on a project that was to become the most comprehensive and important collection of indigenous pacific music ever put to tape. his work is invaluable and we’re enormously grateful to his family for their collaboration and their continued work in stewarding this precious and significant collection. you can expect future releases to feature his recordings. similarly, in early 2020 we traveled to the “polynesian capital of the world” — auckland, NZ — to work with a team of exceptional traditional maori and pasifika musicians, singers and storytellers. pasifika and maori identity has informed much of the next phase of our work, along with the extraordinary life of dave’s late father, Teleso Le’aupepe. we appreciate all of you and your continued support." so I'm thinking the stylistic shift is more to do with them integrating samples into their sound and moving towards incorporating the traditional sounds of NZ into their established music. it's not like they're dropping Kid A 2 on us but it does seem like a pretty big change to the sound we've heard from them so far (I'm thinking a good comparison here is Crowded House going from Woodface to Together Alone for y'all who know what I'm talking about haha)
This ep is real good and I look forward to spending some more time with it. That said, I hope we still get some more bangers on the next album, cause I love how the band does both and their drummer is great.
Unison video is great. It's given me more Dave dance moves to steal at every wedding I go to from now on.