R-A-B-L-O-G

I saw Manchester Orchestra play live back in December (see here for interview) and they played a hefty amount of new songs and I wasn’t too impressed by any of them, bit once they started coming out online and I listened more and more I fell in love with the new material. I pre-ordered the new album “Mean Everything to Nothing” over iTunes and it downloaded onto my Macbook about 40 minutes ago and it is currently my album of the year.

Manchester Orchestra- "Mean Everything to Nothing"

This is one of the most perfectly crafted albums I’ve ever listened to, which is a big deal for a sophomore full-length, major label debut release, a time when a band can easily lose its footing. The songs on this albums are all great, but that only goes so far for making a good album if they aren’t arranged well, and on “Mean Everything to Nothing” the songs flow from one to the next in perfect harmony. There is a cohesion here that was shows a definite growth from the first full-length, “I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child,” that was bridged excellently with the “Let My Pride be What’s Left Behind” EP this past fall. This is a band that seems to be on a definite path, they know where they want to be and how to get there.The songs are heavier, but just as heartfelt. The lyrics are a bit more accessible. Songwriter Andy Hull is not as cryptic here as on previous releases. It makes it that much easier to appreciate these tracks.

If the amount of attention they’ve been getting from the music press is any indication, people are starting to pay attention to Manchester Orchestra in a big way and I hope they’re all finding out what a good band this is.