Neues aus der Forumsecke:
OK here is the low down on the listening party and „The Incident“ :
The Incident consists of 14 songs/interludes that make up the entire piece. I was told that most of what I am about to tell you was forthcoming in a press release by Road Runner, so they weren’t too overly concerned about this info leaking a few days early to all you die hard hobbits !
So here it is:
Occam’s Razor 1:55
The Blind House 5:47
Great Expectations 1:26
Kneel and Disconnect 2:03
Drawing the Line 4:43
The Incident 5:20
Your Unpleasant Family 1:48
The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train 2:00
Time Flies 11:40
Degree Zero of Liberty 1:45
Octane Twisted 5:03
The Séance 2:39
Circle of Manias 2:18
I Drive the Hearse 6:41All tracks by SW except Octane Twisted and Circle of Manias which are group compositions (besides the 4 other pieces on the separate ep).
Like I posted this AM, I truly do not know what to make of the new PT. It was almost too overwhelming to take in at one sitting, and for me, certainly NOT a CD/LP I could just sit down and immediately come away with a definitive impression of from the moment I heard it. In most cases, for me anyway, this is normally a very good thing, as many of my all time fave records were ones that I wasn’t immediately struck by, but I am not sure if this is how it will play out with the new PT, and I did not get a promo copy so I’ll have to sit it out like everyone else until the CD is released to get my next listen…
Of the tracks I remember specifically, Time Flies (which I mentioned is very Floydian, but still very much a PT sounding track) was probably the most immediately memorable. It’s not uber proggy, but it does reference Dogs and Time liberally (and bits of Run Like Hell and Sheep as well), but still sounds very contemporary and cool !!!! Steven told me this piece was specifically inspired by his childhood/growing up etc.
The Blind House was pretty immediate as well, retro PT acoustic references, harmonies, with some very heavy sustained guitar histrionics as well.
Circle of Manias is the real powerhouse riff monster (along with Octane Twisted if memory serves me right) with tons of Meshuggah-like riffs clashing and crashing along in a torrent of angular time changes and odd meters. This has a similar vibe to Mother and Child Divided, but is much heavier and more angular and f**ked up… Oh, yeah, on this one, SW plays a new Baritone guitar that PRS made for him exclusively !
Drive the Hearse was actually a surprise, as I expected it to be dark and heavy to coincide with the lyrics and song title, but it’s not. It’s more „song oriented“ with a memorable chorus and some really lovely acoustic moments backed with some spooky/eerie synth textures and a soaring solo fade out…
The other track that really got my attention was The Incident, which is, well crushingly funky (as in heavy electronica funk), this song is twisted and really will kick ass live I am betting… Lot’s of weird synthy textures and if I had to point to any specific reference point it would be Sleep Together, but without all the strings. This track is more streamlined and stealthy…
Only one major disconnect for me that stood out from the listening session, and that was Drawing the Line. This might be the first PT song I can honestly say I immediately did NOT like much at all right away… Not digging the chorus at all and actually felt uncomfortable listening to it, which was a weird experience. It may grow on me , but somehow I doubt it… Please don’t let my opinion cloud yours though when you finally get and opportunity to check it out !
The rest of the experience is all just too fuzzy at this point, sleep deprivation is clouding my memory and judgment so I’ll stop there on my review of the individual and the whole…
Again, I think this is definitely a situation where it’s going to take a few listens for me to fully wrap my head around and appreciate what is going on in this new release… I will say this though, it was my impression that this music was definitely inspired by and influenced by SW’s experiences making Insurgentes. I can’t put my finger on it, but I had a distinct feeling that Insurgentes had a profound effect on his writing for this new PT project. Perhaps it’s just me, but we shall see….
A couple of tidbits extra.
In the video the opening sequence of guitar chords is from Occam’s Razor which opens the album, and the synthy freak out bits Richard is playing is (I believe) from The Incident. Also, the acoustic bit SW’s is playing is from Time Flies. The rest of the snippets of music are too short and detached from the rest of the recordings for me to place after just one sitting.
Oh one last juicy bit….
Another city/venue will be added in the coming days for the 9/26. There will NOT be another NYC show, however, there will be another East Coast show within a 4 hr drive of NYC. Won’t say whether it’s N or S of NY, but if you think real hard you should be able to narrow it down to one or two places…
Probably a lot more to tell, but just too burnt out to remember at present…
SoD
pebet
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Now my work is done, I feel I'm owed some joy! - Josh Ritter, Bright Smile