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Manchester Orchestra's front man and vocalist Andy Hull would appear to
be something of a crazy mixed-up kid. Having been prolific and (hyper)
active since his not-so-distant high school days, at one point having
dropped out so that he could better concentrate on his music, the band are
now putting out their second album, a release that seemingly both addresses
and mirrors confusions and contradictions in his life.
Emotionally, the mood of the album is turbulent, troubled and changeable.
Many tracks speak of inner turmoil, "A bigger mess, that you can't fix",
Shake It Out puts it, or, in one of several lyrics that seem to capture the
disaffected adolescent's outlook and way of speaking: "Whatever, whatever, I
can't speak" (You, My Pride And Me).
Drug use and/or abuse are obliquely
referred to in several tracks (In My Teeth, I Can Feel A Hot One, Everything
To Nothing, for example), yet another constant reference is religion - God
and Jesus. Hull is a "son of a pastor", he tells us in the opening track
The Only One, and reckons "Jesus don't come round unless we pray" (In
My Teeth). The impression is of someone simultaneously rejecting yet
reaching out for his childhood beliefs, particularly on The River, where he
slowly and movingly pleads "Oh my God / Make me clean again".
It is difficult to avoid making the presumption that most of this is
autobiographical. As well as the pastor Father, other characters that we
are introduced to include a grandfather who leaves a note in his coat to be
discovered by his grandson (Everything To Nothing) and a brother on the
(irritatingly) hidden track at the end, touchingly informed that "We're
brothers, that makes it right".
Just as the emotions in the album are something of a mixed bag, so it is
with the musical stylings. The band can switch from sounding fairly
straightforwardly emo, as on Shake It Out and You, My Pride And Me, to
something more akin to the gentler, electronica-flecked side of
checked-shirt indie. It is on this latter type of track, specifically The
Only One, I've Got Friends, In My Teeth, and I Can Feel A Hot One, that they
really come into their own.
When they hit gold in the form of good tunes,
added texture and oomph from keyboards and synths, plus the heavy
post-hardcore guitar deployment at which they also excel, then they really
do produce something quite special. Hull's affecting vocal (he really sings
like he cares) adds to the effect, and is best when used more softly
and melodically, although he does run the full gamut from tender croon to
very angry shout, often within one song.
Despite a couple of forgettable tracks near the end (the bland Tony The
Tiger, and the overlong Everything To Nothing) then, this is an album that
wears its befuddled, het-up, over-emotional heart on its sleeve, and is all
the better, less slick and more interesting for it. As a depiction of
late-teen / early-20s angst it rings loudly, confusedly, but
valiantly true.
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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees
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