Mean Everything To Nothing , the second album from Atlanta's Manchester Orchestra, is everything you want a rock record to be: raw, urgent, emotional, and 100 percent authentic. "There is nothing fake about this record," says frontman and lyricist Andy Hull. "There's not one fake sound on it. We recorded it live because we wanted it to sound like a band, and I think it does: live and loud!"
Inspired by the pounding, primal assault of Weezer's Pinkerton , Nirvana's In Utero , and Foo Fighters' The Colour and the Shape , this young band has created its own version of what a classic rock album should sound like, complete with fiercely beautiful melodies, shifting guitar and keyboard textures, loud/soft dynamics, and an urgency in each band member's performance, especially Hull's cathartic vocals.
The drama is magnified by the fact that the album's first six songs bleed into one another without stopping. The blistering opener "The Only One" immediately gives way to the propulsive "Shake It Out" and the torrential first single "I've Got Friends," followed by the anguished "Pride" and the menacing "In My Teeth," before slowing down on the darkly funny "100 Dollars." Then the album pauses and down-shifts into less relentless yet equally gripping territory on songs from "I Can Feel A Hot One" (which was featured on Gossip Girl last September), to the ruminative closer "The River."
The breakneck pace is both exhilarating and exhausting, which Hull says was intentional. "I like the fact that there isn't a chance during the first six songs to say anything if you're listening to it with somebody. It's seamless. We did that to emphasize that there are two halves to the album." The first half is a brooding tale of teenage angst and anger -- the confusion and disillusionment of growing up and becoming an adult. The second half is about redemption and an overall re-evaluation of the self. It's about Hull beginning to realize in his own words "that things are not ok, I am not ok, and there's a beauty in that -- a calming, a forgiveness," he says.
holy shit!! heres me thinking you guys were from england!! savage sound lads, real music, deep lyrics. love your work. only recently got into you. hope to catch you lot at dublin gig.
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... i just spent some time in australia and got a bit jealous that splendour in the grass was after i left. but please, i beg of you, bring the middle east back to the states with you. they will be playing at splendour. check them out. you wont be disappointed.
as a fellow atlantan (currently living abroad), i can't begin to tell you how excited i am to be coming to your show in manchester. i just bought my plane ticket and show ticket.
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Hey! Thanks for the add. I've been listening to your new album constantly for a few weeks now.
I'm disappointed i can't make it to the Sydney show, but you guys are playing the same night as The Flaming Lips, and I'm sorry..but they won... (That and I already had those tickets)
When I first saw you guys, a few years back you were playing with Brand New and Kevin Devine. I'll be honest me and my friend had no idea who you were. And there were three people in front of us freaking out about your music. I think it's funny now because Brand New is one of my fav bands, but I find myself listening to your music more now than i do Brand New's haha. Come back to Myrtle Beach so that i can sing along this time :-)
Also, you're a heck of alot of fun to watch behind that keyboard and drum set, and yes, I do think you're a lion on stage. ha ha... keep up the energy!
I've seen you on all three tour that you've done through here and it has been really neat seeing you grow as a band. Keep up the hard work and thanks for taking the time to respond!
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