They are almost 20 years late to the trend of alt-rockers pivoting to adult NPR indie pop rock (shout out to my bros in Nada Surf) and they have done it with mixed success quality-wise but I almost give Jenkins a little extra credit for attempting that transition when the indie pop rock genre is mostly non-commercial. It makes me want to believe he actually cares somewhat about making music he thinks is good and has artistic merit, as 3EB are not going to get a huge second commercial career from releasing albums like Our Bande Apart and this stripped down, odd acoustic album.
Nada Surf is a top 5 all timer band for me. What a band! Great dudes too. Super underrated given their tenure.
Never a big To The Sea guy but I really, really liked Bande Apart and this album seems to be channeling that vibe. Could be a good one.
I'm not listening to anything until full album is out, but does Red Star have a different vibe as the OG? Someone on the previous page mentioned that HIGB had a different vibe so I'm just curious if there are different variations on the classics for each song
this is also a very different arrangement i like that neither of the released songs have been strictly "acoustic"
Second single has me more excited for this. I was worried every track might be a deconstruction like they did with HIGTB which would get tiring. Straight forward acoustic versions of their deeper cuts with more re-imagined takes of their overplayed mainstream singles sounds very cool.
Ugh. Pretty rough compared to the original that had so much more passion and the soaring backing vocals. So far this project just feels drowsy and lifeless.
First 20 seconds of Blinded I felt like he was like a half second behind the melody but by the end (right now) I was like "hell yes"
After hearing a re-imagined “How’s It Gonna Be”, I’m pretty bummed that “Semi Charmed Life” didn’t get the same treatment and it’s “just” an acoustic version. Same with “Never Let You Go.”
I think I know where you’re coming from with this, but I think those songs still sound different than being straight acoustic versions. There’s some variation going on in both of those songs.