1. Sort Of Medicine 2. By Presidential Decree 3. Don't Lose All Your Friends (If You Hate Being Lonely) 4. Head North is a Business 5. The First One 6. God 7. Pulse 8. Hibernation Hymn 9. Bombs Over (Intermission) 10. White Light 11. Stranger Sounds 12. Somewhere, ND 13. Fallow 14. God (Bring It Back)
Not entirely sure if I'm supposed to talk about this album yet, but advances went out today and the album is out next week so fuck it. I've had the album since the end of July. It's remarkable. Very risky, and very likely not what you're expecting, but remarkable. It's intentionally jarring at times and it's gonna throw you off if you go in expecting a certain sound. I think "dense" is the best way to describe it. There's so much going on that I still don't feel like I fully understand the vision almost a year later. Most of the guitars are acoustic and sonically, God (Bring It Back) is a pretty good indication of the direction, but that's far and away the closest thing to a single on here. One of the tracks consists mostly of spoken word arrangements, another is basically an 80s arena rock jam with a little bit of The Police thrown in, a few of the tracks are interludes, and it runs pretty consistently as a two-sided record without any breaks. "By Presidential Decree" is a pretty good single choice, although I would have probably picked "Pulse" or "Head North Is A Business" because they're both highlights and reflective of how weird the album gets. "God (Bring It Back)" was listed as a Bonus Track on my advance and I think I like it better that way--feels tacked on the end in comparison to the rest of the record, but it kinda works as an "end credits," if that makes sense. There's also a song that's not on the track list they released but feels like an essential piece of the puzzle and I'm confused about that. Might end up on the finished product, might be released at a later date, but it's a top 3 track from this session and I hope it sees a release eventually. Cwhit's "poor man's Have Mercy" comment above is still hysterical to me, especially after seeing how safe HM have played it since TEPB and hearing this record, which throws that entire sonic comparison in the river. I hope everyone gives this album a shot. I'm sure some people won't be on board for it, especially if you're expecting another "Brave Hands" or "The Bells," but if nothing else it shows that they'd rather make something wildly ambitious than play it safe like so many of their peers do. Might delete this if I get yelled at, but I've been dying to talk about the album for like, 10 months so w/e
New song is great, can't wait to hear the full record next week. I've always expected big things from these guys so having them back in the spotlight is awesome.
Yeah, my main problem is that the vocals are really buried. I like everything else about the song though.
This is shaping up to be entirely different than I anticipated. Really excited to hear the whole thing
That song is so good but I'm going to echo the comment about his vocal production/pronunciation. I really can see this record being something special.
PREMIERE: Listen to Head North’s transformative debut LP, ‘The Last Living Man Alive Ever In The History Of The World’ Full album stream
I believe they were looking for the proper way to release it. They've been a band for over five years and this is their first full length, so they didn't want to put it out just for it to die. I'm sure money played a factor too.
This record is absolutely, stunningly, breath-taking. I'm not even half way through and I'm having a viscerally emotional reaction to every damn song. It's incredible.
6 songs in and I'm really impressed with the scope of this. I would have taken Bloodlines 2.0 and been thrilled but this is way more interesting