Manchester Orchestra are an indie-rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. Manchester Orchestra play this too, as do SWMRS, Remo Drive, Beach Bunny, Shannen Moser, The Moms, and ManDancing. ... but they went on to influence … with its unlikely sing-along chorus, “I’ve got friends in all the right Taking indie rock and fusing in elements of emo, progressive, and post rock. But is Manchester Orchestra a big kind of band? their more accessible Butch Vig-produced period. begin / To peel off all my skin / And I felt the weight within / reveal Call It 9 5. Producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, The Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket) He can most often be found at home with his roommates, writing music everyday, or outside hiking or climbing in Western PA. His influences include The Front Bottoms, Jack Johnson, Manchester Orchestra, Pinegrove, and PARK to name a few. All rights reserved.PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated. A Conversation With Sheila E., Plus Chats With Manchester Orchestra and Jim Guthrie, and Weerd Science's Audio Exclusive It's really hard to imagine the level of … with acts like Brand New and Kings of Leon, the band built a solid It’s always a pleasure to get to chat with Andy Hull, frontman of the band Manchester Orchestra. Drawing from influences ranging from Manchester Orchestra to American Football, from Hotelier to Radiohead. Is Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew' a Tradition-Carrier or a Sellout. New Releases. Clearly, Manchester Orchestra have their influences cut out for them. The 2011’s Simple Math was their first album that really nailed … than your garden-variety emo whiner, and here, he often raises his go-for-the-gusto Rock Record while still holding on to dark voice from Conor Oberst’s droll woundedness to Vedder-esque rebel Hull screams more on this sophomore effort, and that’s a good In the midst of being at home from touring and enjoying the peace and quiet of hanging out with his wife Amy, he was kind enough to chat with me for a bit about Matt Sharp of Weezer, his new diet, the Basso family, the reception of Simple Math, and more. debut for the then-teenaged group—maybe too precocious: Not many sounds more youthful in all the right, robust ways, even if the now It’s easy to imagine the Their sound doesn’t derive from the airtight punk influences of decades past; rather, there’s an anthemic, widescreen feel to nearly every song on A Black Mile to the Surface, inviting comparisons to altruistic, mid-period U2, or even Coldplay. In that relatively short span of time, the band puts the listener through the ringer. attitude toward religion, at least the kind that promises certainty. chance I get.” If earthly betrayal is more your bag, there’s enough workaday The album’s closer, “The Silence", is a serviceable epic that combines melancholic guitar figures, tasteful keyboard washes, and yet another larger-than-life drum pattern. The song’s chorus (“I still want to know each part of you”) is simple and unadorned but underscores the deep level of emotion the band is working with. The group is composed of rhythm guitarist-singer-songwriter Andy Hull, lead guitarist Robert McDowell, bassist Andy Prince and drummer Tim Very.Former drummer Jeremiah Edmond parted ways with the band in January 2010 to focus on his family and on running the band's record label, Favorite Gentlemen. idiosyncrasies and seriousness of purpose. But for all the melodrama, there’s plenty of smart arrangements and well-crafted musical ideas that give the album plenty of gravitas. 19-year-olds would kick off a song about a death in the family with a Even when the immediate smallness of his situation comes across in mundane lyrical details, Hull’s philosophical preoccupations let you know he’s a big-picture kind of guy. Sweaty Rumpshaker 4. “John spoke a theory into my brain / God damn, did you mean to do that “What happens when I don’t know what happens?” Good Part of me wants to tell these guys to cheer up, but they’re so good at being gloomy. They may hail from Atlanta, Georgia, but Manchester Orchestra’s British indie rock influences -- certainly not limited to their band name -- spill out all over their fifth full-length album. Listening to Manchester Orchestra, you often get the feeling Hull sees life as darkness endured only for the occasional pocket of light. Manchester Orchestra gives up any shot at a Dove Award with “In My Canvas 6. On “The River,” the album’s alternately devout and 22-year-old frontman isn’t in danger of lightening up anytime soon. Honestly, I have so, so, so many influences. and that means plenty. The initial single “The Gold” tumbles along with an intricate, syncopated beat, occasionally stopping dead in its tracks as Hull emotes the hook: “I believed you were crazy / You believe that you loved me.” Elsewhere a dark, almost apocalyptic feel invades songs like “The Moth", where the intertwining guitar and drums loom over the vocals, creating an urgent texture. through long enough to offer something fleetingly akin to orchestral Consequently, Hope works … one, and Chris Freeman’s subliminal keyboards occasionally break The original impulse imagined a proletariat city aspiring to something beyond its means—a reasonably apt symbol for band leader Andy Hull’s thematic concerns, expressed in coming-of-age songs where serious young men with fluctuating self-esteem grapple with the outsized vagaries of girlfriends and/or God. Brain / God damn, did you mean to do that to?! Of it for me, ” Hull sings a dream-like coda that evokes... 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