Manchester Orchestra, "Simple Math" 06/02/2011
By Brendan Harte Gilsenan
✭✭✭½
Andy Hull has a knack for making whatever he sings sound incredibly important. Maybe it’s the aged growl of his voice for a rather young man. Or maybe it’s his ability to whisper a grandfather’s wisdom one moment, and shout the commands of a militant leader the next. His words come across as life lessons, warnings, and sad tales to tell your children.
It’s a damn good thing this band can grasp a listener so quickly, because many of these tracks require a road map to navigate. Manchester Orchestra is no stranger to atypical song structures. 2009’s Mean Everything To Nothing made good use of bridges, codas, and other ‘what-the-hell-was-that’s. Yet Simple Math strays even further from the path at times, causing confusion between what is a verse, pre-chorus or a chorus.
The overall aesthetics of the songs, however, are very much in tune with those that Manchester has established itself with over the past few years. The ingredients of Manchester Orchestra are found everywhere throughout the album, even if they are presented in more of a collage than a painting.
A couple of tracks offer a subtle brass flair that is new for the band, and very much welcomed. The string orchestration, however, could probably be tamed a bit throughout Simple Math, such as on the title track. This one too was not the best choice as a lead single to showcase what the album has to offer.
One of the more notable songs on the album is “Virgin”. It’s one of the most structurally sound of the bunch. This haunting track gives off similar vibes to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall.” It has If-you-don’t-eat-your-meat, how-can-you-have-any-pudding!-esque talking at the beginning, and a children chorus to boot.
At times Simple Math doesn’t know whether it wants to be a heavy introspective record, or a collection of poppy, radio friendly rock. The identity crisis carries over to some individual tracks, with verses and choruses clashing genres.
“Pale Black Eye” has one of the coolest, funkiest riffs that Manchester has put to record. The pre-chorus – actually it’s difficult to tell which section this is - takes a darker turn before returning to original light riff. Although the parts originally seem at odds, the band somehow manages to bring them together into something that works better than expected.
Their pop sensibility comes across strongest with “Pensacola.” Out of all, it’s the one to sing along to. It won’t be long before the band finds fans religiously chanting “Alcohol, dirty malls, Pensacola, Florida bars” at shows during this one’s breakdown.
The slower songs on Simple Math are truly beautiful pieces of songwriting, as are most of Andy Hull’s slow tunes. They expose his gift for great smooth, sentimental lyrics. Album closer, “Leaky Breaks,” crawls along like lingering on the last few pages of a book before gently giving it a close.
Although Simple Math is a grab bag of inconsistent nature, any track taken at random exemplifies the constant songwriting and craftsmanship abilities that make Manchester Orchestra more demanding of attention than most other young bands of today.
1. Deer
2. Mighty
3. Pensacola
4. April Fool
5. Pale Black Eye
6. Virgin
7. Simple Math
8. Leave It Alone
9. Apprehension
10. Leaky Breaks
✭✭✭½
Andy Hull has a knack for making whatever he sings sound incredibly important. Maybe it’s the aged growl of his voice for a rather young man. Or maybe it’s his ability to whisper a grandfather’s wisdom one moment, and shout the commands of a militant leader the next. His words come across as life lessons, warnings, and sad tales to tell your children.
It’s a damn good thing this band can grasp a listener so quickly, because many of these tracks require a road map to navigate. Manchester Orchestra is no stranger to atypical song structures. 2009’s Mean Everything To Nothing made good use of bridges, codas, and other ‘what-the-hell-was-that’s. Yet Simple Math strays even further from the path at times, causing confusion between what is a verse, pre-chorus or a chorus.
The overall aesthetics of the songs, however, are very much in tune with those that Manchester has established itself with over the past few years. The ingredients of Manchester Orchestra are found everywhere throughout the album, even if they are presented in more of a collage than a painting.
A couple of tracks offer a subtle brass flair that is new for the band, and very much welcomed. The string orchestration, however, could probably be tamed a bit throughout Simple Math, such as on the title track. This one too was not the best choice as a lead single to showcase what the album has to offer.
One of the more notable songs on the album is “Virgin”. It’s one of the most structurally sound of the bunch. This haunting track gives off similar vibes to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall.” It has If-you-don’t-eat-your-meat, how-can-you-have-any-pudding!-esque talking at the beginning, and a children chorus to boot.
At times Simple Math doesn’t know whether it wants to be a heavy introspective record, or a collection of poppy, radio friendly rock. The identity crisis carries over to some individual tracks, with verses and choruses clashing genres.
“Pale Black Eye” has one of the coolest, funkiest riffs that Manchester has put to record. The pre-chorus – actually it’s difficult to tell which section this is - takes a darker turn before returning to original light riff. Although the parts originally seem at odds, the band somehow manages to bring them together into something that works better than expected.
Their pop sensibility comes across strongest with “Pensacola.” Out of all, it’s the one to sing along to. It won’t be long before the band finds fans religiously chanting “Alcohol, dirty malls, Pensacola, Florida bars” at shows during this one’s breakdown.
The slower songs on Simple Math are truly beautiful pieces of songwriting, as are most of Andy Hull’s slow tunes. They expose his gift for great smooth, sentimental lyrics. Album closer, “Leaky Breaks,” crawls along like lingering on the last few pages of a book before gently giving it a close.
Although Simple Math is a grab bag of inconsistent nature, any track taken at random exemplifies the constant songwriting and craftsmanship abilities that make Manchester Orchestra more demanding of attention than most other young bands of today.
1. Deer
2. Mighty
3. Pensacola
4. April Fool
5. Pale Black Eye
6. Virgin
7. Simple Math
8. Leave It Alone
9. Apprehension
10. Leaky Breaks
