Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface (July 28, 2017) Album • Page 149

Going to Vermont next week! Lake willoughby!

 

Finally got chance to listen so some initial thoughts

-Lyrically dense so there's a lot to take in and follow.
-Andy sounds incredible on every single song. Maybe his most clear, best vocal performance.
-The production is incredible, it helps bring Andy's vocals out so much.
-The drums are so well produced too
-The Wolf is easily my favourite - epic, uplifting parts with that slow dirge of a synth behind leading it. Perfect MO that I love.
-The Silence is a great great closer

 

so i know weve discussed that lead, sd is an annoying song title, but does it bother anyone else that the parts is the only plural song title on here? so frustrating

 

these new songs seem like they'll rule live, so dynamic

 

The sunshine • r/manchesterorchestra

This is a cool thing about the sunshine anyone try this yet?

 

Is the plural of sunshine "Sunshines"? Getting conflicting answers

 

I could cut my own leg off listening to The Grocery and I wouldn't even feel any pain id be too distracted by the beauty of that song

 

I feel like if The Silence becomes a staple in their set, the live version will ruin the album version for me because it'd be so epic...kind of like Where Have You Been? The live version is so good that the album version is not even fun to listen to anymore.

 

Following up on some of my other posts, I know I've only had this for three days but given how enthralling I find this album to be and my history with the band, it's hard for me not to consider this their best work by a black mile

 

Man, those last 2 minutes of The Grocery are amazing

 

In the blink of an eye there's a hole in your belly
Your body recoils ironically into the family planning aisle
Overhear, "I don't know where I'm going
I'm going anyway
Don't let 'em tell you that I never found..."

 

So this is from the perspective of someone else in the grocery? I'm thinking bc of the lyric "I don't know where I'm going, but I'm going anyway" is from the grocery.

 

I'm sure this record is full of little tricks and secrets. Considering they had so many producers working on it...and for such a long time...I bet they packed in a lot for us to discover. FUN!

Edit: I still don't hear Nate Reuss anywhere. The search continues.

 

I understand what you're saying. I don't listen to virgin at all anymore. I just know that the songs are incredible live and that the album is great. However, the songs really only exist for me in whatever live version the band is playing currently.

I'm not sure if that makes any sense.

 

I'm pretty sure he's on The Maze.

 

Someone said this earlier, but my ears have yet to catch it.

Where specifically? In the gang vocals towards the end?

 

Yeah, theres a few vocals going on at the same time but I think Nate's higher range is so distinct that you can definitely notice him if you're listening for it.

 

I think sunshine is both singular and plural. Much sunshine > many sunshines

 

Ouch, I'm on their metacritic page as an 84 and I'm seeing an ad for the album that says 96% metacritic lol. They were quick to get that ad out I guess

 

To me it sounds like Nate in the background noises/voices at the end of "The Gold". Sounds like a teacher or someone teaching kids a song:

Thank you for the fishes
Thank you for me

Something like that.

 

If you look at the lyrics, and what's going on in the story of the song, i think you're onto something:

"There are parts of me just stuck inside the grocery
In the produce aisle with the dead beats
Rustling trying to look busy but they're high like me"

a little later in the song...

"This is temporary, I just heard I'm gonna be a dad
South Dakota, every winter someone loses it
I'm lost without a single clue as to where I'm headed
I wait for her because without her I'm gonna sink"

It sounds/reads to me like this is a song about a dude, maybe some junkie loser type, ruminating on the idea that he is going to be a father and what this means for his personal life. It doesn't seem like this dude has things together. He is going through some serious inner turmoil as he grapples with the idea. This appears to all be going down while he is either in the grocery store or has recently left the grocery store.

 

Did we find Nate Ruess on this thing yet or

 

No. We should all just take turns randomly shouting "where is Nate Reuss?" at shows though until they cave and tell us.

 

I think he's pretty clearly on The Maze. I don't hear anything on any other song that sounds anything like him.

 

Wait you guys are telling me right now that Nate Ruess is buried on this album somewhere and I didn't know about it?!