There was so much joy in the room last night at their show in Brooklyn. Whatever you think this band sounds like live, you are wrong. The four-piece is working at a really special level, and they switched instruments nearly every song. Every single arrangement sounded like they were trying something different -- free jazz, 80s soft rock, Mumford stomp -- and it's all held together with Matsson's emphatic drama and showmanship. The new songs sounded exceptional. If "Bless You" is half as good on record as its live version it'll be one of my favorite songs of the year. Feels like a brand new era for TMOE.
This is a pretty good change of pace, I like how rhythmic this sounds. I've been curious to hear a full band record from him, feels more youthful than the last few. I need to go back and do a discog run because it's been a while and I enjoy everything he's done more or less
Fully in love with this, but that's not a surprise. I can't think of an artist who consistently NAILS openers like Kristian does. The first song on every album does a perfect job introducing the overall vibe of every song that comes after it. And they've all been pretty dang unique. Production is also different than any of his albums that came before this. It's incredibly warm and crisp. "Bless You" and "Major League" are my favorites after first listen.
Another amazing & classic tallest man album but with this new and wondeful joy that leaps out at you. Love the production as well. Gonna be listening all day (and beyond)
"Foothills" is already an all-time favorite of his from a lyrical standpoint. I've been listening to this album all day.
I love love love “Major League” and was wondering if it would resonate with anyone else. It’s like his main inspiration for that song was the Irish jig from Titanic or something!
I got to this at the end of the day yesterday; spent most of the day listening to the new Caitlyn Smith album. The Tallest Man on Earth is such an interesting artist to me, because I always enjoy his stuff, but haven't really loved any full album since his double whammy of 2010 projects. Looking forward to spending more time with this one, though.
Give this one a few listens! He has a really specific aesthetic and writing style that tends to reveal itself over time. Maybe I'm just still in thrall to the concert from last week (he played 9 of 11 new songs and didn't lose the room for a second), but I think he's done something next level (for him) here. Caitlyn's new album is quite good but definitely chuckling at the word "new"... literally two unheard songs based on her EP and single release strategy. Gotta wonder how she feels about that; if it came out all at once last year I'd probably be singing its praises a lot more. Just found out she's playing Philly in a few weeks at City Winery, might try to hit that one up.
Yeah, the Caitlyn thing is frustrating. Country labels keep doing this with “developing” artists and it always sucked. I didn’t listen to any of the singles from the album rollout, since I knew I’d already heard more than half of it with last year’s EP, so there were 5-6 new songs for me yesterday.
I like this, but I’m in that category of fan who thinks everything he does, while enjoyable, lives in the shadow of those first two albums. This is no different, but it’s a good listen.
Decent album but a bit of step down from his last one. Either way, he will always have a soft spot with me as his live streams in the early days of the pandemic got me through those hard times.