Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface (July 28, 2017) Album • Page 152

Alien is what the kids called him bc of his ears

Yea multiple stories at different times is the idea I've been getting from the interviews. Apparently the gold is set 100 years before most of the story and in another song they go back to that time in the middle of the song.

 

the wolf is up there with their best work. i wish i liked grocery as much as everyone else

 

The wolf is made by the third verse 5th harmonies, they are really cool and show that bands shouldn't be afraid to go outside the traditional third and 6th harmonies

 

Dear hunter fans that line in grocery

"I've been trying to find a way out"

And

The chorus to waves are somewhat similar no?

 

I didn't understand a single thing you just said.

 

i only like flat 9th harmonies tbh

 

Counterparts can run circles around this band when it comes to 5th harmonies

 

Holy shit that was a lot of thread to catch up on. I can't remember the last time I fell so behind.

So I've heard this 3 times so far, and I'm really really enjoying it. I think it's undoubtedly the most cohesive record the band has ever released, and the world they build both sonically and lyrically is captivating to me. I think I'm going to need a lot more time for this thing to hit me in the way I think it will, but so far I am extremely pleased. I'd already say I enjoy it more than Cope/Hope and Simple Math.

Early favorites are The Maze, The Gold, The Grocery, The Parts, and The Silence. And The Wolf. So like half the record.

 

I like Fifth Harmony

 

The grocery might be the best here actually

 

Since a handful of people in here seem to be doing this and this is chorus dot fm, here's my ranking:

The Grocery
The Silence
The Moth
The Wolf
The Gold
The Parts
Lead, SD
The Maze
The Mistake
The Alien
The Sunshine

 

Lol imagine that on a vocal line hah

 

This is why I don't write about music lol, its just a different way of harmonizing a melodic line.

 

I can get behind this ranking

 

The Alien and The Sunshine are my least favorites after three listens now, but, even then, they are stikk good and enjoyable, even though I have no idea what the hell Andy is going on about in The Alien. The transition between those two and then into The Gorcery is awesome though and they build up into The Grocery in a really great way.

 

Alien is about a kid who is bullied bc his drunken dad cut off his ears. He's forced to make some difficult choices, pretty sure he's one of the brothers mentioned in the story, I think him and his brother end up in the same grocery store the day of the shooting and different songs are about their different perspectives of that shooting.


"Did you mean to take out all those people with you" after years of being bullied he finally loses it maybe idk

 

The verses to The Moth are amazing. I absolutely love the added percussion that's playing off the main beat. I love that shit

 

To me the album as a whole seems to be dealing with some sort of hereditary mental illness that probably caused the dad to be abusive, is then passed on to the brothers, which might have caused the grocery incident and then I feel like theres a section in The Silence about the worry of passing something like that on to your child.

 

The Moth
The Wolf
The Gold
The Mistake
The Silence
The Grocery
Lead, SD
The Alien
The Maze
The Parts
The Sunshine

The bottom three are the only ones I don't think are among their best work. Gonna need to let this one sit cause right now my top ten for these guys includes seven songs off this album haha.

 

you can flip any of these rankings around and they still make sense

 

After 2.5 listens I'd rank

The Grocery
The Wolf
Lead, SD
The Silence
The Maze
The Sunshine
The Moth
The Alien
The Parts
The Gold
The Mistake

I love the gold so much so that's how strong I think the album is as a whole

 

Yeah it's a pretty strong album all over, ha.

 

the mistake intro sounds like the flaming lips

 

Great analysis I agree

 

Fucking shit The Silence is just ridiculous. My hot take is that it might be the best song this band has written.

(I'm probably just being hyperbolic due to the newness of the record, but it is at least in their top 5).