I don’t mind multiple songs being released beforehand, that’s just how things are gonna be for a lot of artists in the streaming era, but it’s all about the timeline of when those songs are released in relation to the record. If they’re releasing them a year plus out, that’s tough
I would imagine it’s to keep engagement between the band and their fan base. Unless an artist is huge, a 5 year gap can kill a lot of momentum. I definitely hate the roll out but if that’s what happened - I get it. I do hate how short the record is but at least they didn’t include their Santeria cover as the closer as originally rumored lol Yeah, for sure. Straw Hat and Circling The Drain were both released two years ago. That’s rough.
Not actually listening to this beforehand has certainly helped me dodge this "rollout" fatigue, cuz I am digging this.
Feeling pretty disappointed/underwhelmed with this. I came on with DIAWB and later fell in love with Stovall and really like Much Love. Outside of Bored, I’d only listened to the pre-release stuff once or twice despite it being out so long. I think Bored might be my favorite song they’ve ever done, but almost nothing else on this is speaking to me in any way. That intro seems so completely out of place/out of left field.
When BN opened Daisy with a religious hymn back in 09 and then had it feed right into Vices, it was shocking and felt like a moment... not the case here. Portals into Ferrari would've been more interesting if Ferrari wasn't released over a year ago. I didn't understand then why they put out a 2 min song that felt like an intro track off the bat. Perhaps Ferrari was the intro to this record initially.
I spoke with them last year and they implied to me then that they’d wanted the record out last fall or earlier
I’m overall liking this but a gripe I have is that it really peters out at the end. The last 3 songs don’t have much energy and it doesn’t seem like good sequencing. I disagree with @WeWereGiants; it definitely isn’t too early to re-order the album. I don’t know if I’m totally on board with @worldsclide order, though. I’ll have to try it first.
I don’t know how some of yall could have gone this entire time without hearing circling the drain the title track is a banger. yeah this album rollout was an absolute mess
I think besides the rollout thing you can't help but want a slightly meatier album after both a relatively long wait and the last album (which I adored) being pretty short but really only complaining about portion size at this point, I like the new album a lot
One wild card with the rollout is that I think they got a lot bigger between this album and the last one through touring/word of mouth. The album cycle itself was fairly short, but the singles lined up with the growing momentum of the rest of their catalog/tours, getting new people like me on board to care about this album in the first place same thing seems to be happening for Knocked Loose, but at a much bigger scale so it’s less of an issue
This reminds me a lot of Balance and Composure Light We Made in the best way. I love this band. Can't wait for next week at The Earl.
I like Omni and Circling the Drain but this muted vocal thing he does most of the album isn't my tea. I'd say I don't dislike it but it just doesn't register for me the way Much Love/Stovall do.
I like the album overall but so many tracks including the opening few being so low energy was surprising. I dig the vibe I just don't think this is gonna rank above any previous albums for me.
Missed opportunity in the title track: wrap around and break you like a glow stick could have been wrap around and SNAP you like a glow stick