The duo began making these moves prior to last year's Mentor Tormentor in both a quest to duck its own stylistic baggage and a reaction to personnel changes that left the two of them on their own. You may have noticed the pun in the record's unfunny title, which predicts that Murray has raised her profile on this record by taking more active writing duties after penning "Happy Alone" on Mentor Tormentor.
Fortunately, she complements Espinoza well, rescuing his vocal musings from the abyss of romantic equivocation and providing a rougher side to the band's harmonies, and on "Before It Gets Better", lead vocals. Murray seems the more world-weary vocalist than Espinoza, whose smooth croon hews closely to Ben Gibbard's blueprints for enunciation of purple prose.
And so the problem with Hymn and Her is-- after years of being called out for sounding too much like their peers-- it feels like they're plagiarizing themselves.
Raather than fully implementing Earlimart Phase Two, as they have hinted, the duo is still dressing up the same minimally satisfying ditties in ruffly fuzz; its still scrupulously orchestrating the same kinds of songs that appear on simpler, better Earlimart records.
As before, the new album places a big emphasis on sonic texture, but Espinoza also offers up some of his most straightforward pop melodies. Acoustic guitars chime over drum loops, keyboards bubble in the background, and harmonies thicken the melodies, yet Hymn and Her still sounds intimate, as if the bandmates have discovered how to funnel their densely populated songs into warm, mellow washes of sound.
It's ideal music for headphones, where the clever production can reveal all of its layers. At the same time, it's hard to imagine a setting in which the relaxed chug of "Teeth" and "For the Birds" wouldn't sound completely engaging. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully. Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic. Romantic Sad Sentimental. Sexy Trippy All Moods. Saturday 23 October Sunday 24 October Monday 25 October Tuesday 26 October Wednesday 27 October Thursday 28 October Friday 29 October Saturday 30 October Sunday 31 October Monday 1 November Tuesday 2 November Wednesday 3 November Thursday 4 November Friday 5 November Saturday 6 November Sunday 7 November Monday 8 November Tuesday 9 November Wednesday 10 November Thursday 11 November Friday 12 November Saturday 13 November Sunday 14 November Monday 15 November Tuesday 16 November Wednesday 17 November Thursday 18 November Friday 19 November Saturday 20 November Sunday 21 November Monday 22 November Tuesday 23 November Wednesday 24 November Thursday 25 November Friday 26 November Saturday 27 November Sunday 28 November Monday 29 November Tuesday 30 November Wednesday 1 December Thursday 2 December Friday 3 December Saturday 4 December Sunday 5 December Monday 6 December Tuesday 7 December Wednesday 8 December Thursday 9 December Friday 10 December Saturday 11 December Sunday 12 December Monday 13 December Tuesday 14 December Wednesday 15 December Thursday 16 December Friday 17 December Saturday 18 December Sunday 19 December Monday 20 December Tuesday 21 December Wednesday 22 December Thursday 23 December Friday 24 December Saturday 25 December Sunday 26 December Monday 27 December Tuesday 28 December Wednesday 29 December Thursday 30 December Friday 31 December Saturday 1 January Sunday 2 January Monday 3 January
0コメント