In all seriousness, I avoided ALL singles. Heard Oldest and Your Name once and then went radio silent for the remaining ones. Holy shit, it’s ALWAYS worth it to go in dark. Opener and closer are titanic. Paris is gonna kill it live. Laura had me misty eyed. This is my favorite first listen of theirs since TGG.
Listened for the first time while driving around the North Fork of Long Island after being in town for a wedding. Windows down, ocean breeze, perfection. Last song is just killer. I’m turning 40 and have two kids. Just so much of what I’d want to put into words but have no idea how. Soupy has just been able to really guide me/us through so many different phases of life. This is no different.
Honestly I was worrried I was starting to cool on TWY because I thought NCTH was fine and didn’t really care for SS. Even these singles didn’t have me stoked initially, but this is really great . Definitely my favorite since TGG
I enjoyed listening to this and the lyrics are some of Dan's best. As a 22 year old college student this man had me tearing up over fatherhood lines which is really a special gift. The songs are tight and catchy. I do agree that the sequencing hurts the record. A lot of the heavier songs come in groups of 3 and 4 and the chillest songs are shoved toward the end. As a result I found it a bit hard to remember which songs really stuck out to me but I will say Old Friends is my favorite on the album despite being out already. I also loved Cardinals II and my jaw dropped when he brought back the melody from the og Cardinals. One thing I am missing is some of the experimentation of the last 2 albums but I also respect the cohesive sonic direction of the album and I think everything fits together well. I think more moments will start to stick out to me when I come back to this record but for right now I'd give it a strong 8/10. It's definitely free of most of the mixing/mastering issues on the last two. I work in audio so I have my nitpicks but this is really a great SOUNDING album. It's dirty and fuzzy in the right places, but what really shines to me is the clarity of the calmer, cleaner moments. Songs like Laura and the Beehive have a real sparkle to them.
Really hard to tear nostalgia away from Upsides, Suburbia, and The Greatest Generation, but this is definitely my favorite post-TGG release. The other two have about 5-6 songs I really like and I don’t care for the rest.
Curious if you’ve picked out many differences in the Yip songs and the Evetts songs? I feel like the Yip songs aren’t my favorites, but I do think they sound better. I feel like the drums punch harder, and I hear what I’m supposed to hear in each moment, whether it’s the lead or rhythm guitar, a pronounced bass line, or a unique drum fill. I feel like Yip does a better job getting those moments slightly higher in the mix.
I’m sorry, I know it’s different for them so it might not be for everyone, but Laura reminds me so much of my grandma who is 97 and a wonderful, loving tough old bird and I can hear her in these lyrics. It’s so damn beautiful.
I will always maintain that this band DOES NOT NEED three guitarists, but this is the best they've sounded since TGG
I don’t think I’ll ever be as attached to this band as I was during the TGG era, but this record is growing on me a lot and I find it much more enjoyable than the last two, which I thought had pretty much turned me off the band permanently
I usually hate when my favorite bands do callbacks to their old songs but they fucking nailed it on Cardinals II. Holy cow. Enjoying this more than the last album, which I liked but it didn't have a lot of songs I connected with. I chalked it up to me getting older and not as obsessed with lyrics as I used to be, but it was more of a record I only put on as background noise because most of the songs had the same flow. This one has a lot more hooks & those "damn, I wish I had thought of that" lines that I love from TWY.
Yeah, loving this. What a body of work they have! I enjoy clocking all the callbacks and references to previous songs with new TWY's albums. There's always a couple of vocal melodies that riff on previous songs too. First few listens i've got- 'And all the kid's names, I've ever liked recited tragedy' in Passing Through A Screen Door - 'Your name's the only one I like' in Wyatt's Song. 'I'm playing Dancing With A Ghost'' - Valencia song. MADELYN 'Devil in your blood' in You're the Reason I Don't Want the World to End - Devil in My Bloodstream.
Additional counterpoint: every band in this genre/realm that has recorded professionally in the last 50 years has probably included additional guitar parts that are not played live because it's impossible. Three guitarists is so sick