The Xcerts Band • Page 7

Ok sorry, one last comment for now—lyrics like “I am worth more than your time so don’t go wasting mine” (coming directly after the line containing the album title) does indeed make me want to dislike this. Not really sure who they’re playing for here.

 

It’s tough to articulate why this album is disappointing. The easiest place to point is the underdeveloped nature of majority of the songs, but there’s also this weirdly subtle antagonistic spirit surrounding the creation of the album as others have pointed out that seems wholly unnecessary.

Like, I get you want to switch things up and come across as less “safe sounding” but does that mean cutting your songs in half, loading them with random sound effects, and delivering barely a half hour of music after five years(!) were the answers? Not in my opinion.

It’s just sad because I still hear the band I was madly in love with on HOYH underneath it all.

 

it's not a satisfying album but there are cool moments scattered across it.

interestingly, i found myself wanting some of the songs to just lift into full on top 40, shiny, polished pop. i think about a song like 'lovesick' being performed by sigrid or carly rae jepsen and in my head it's a hit. it might've been a more interesting album with a bit more of that energy.

 

I was thinking the same thing. They're great songwriters and have an amazing ear for melody. Just so many weird choices on this one. Why isn't a song like Ache - with its huge sound, great verses and massive chorus - at least a minute longer?

 

Just bought a vinyl to still show support. I want these guys to get another crack at it! Jamming “Car Crash”, “Lovesick”, and the last three songs in particular.

 

whys everyone whining bout the run time of the new album? its 31 minutes and 7 seconds.

hold onto your heart is 36 minutes and 17 seconds.
there is only you is 36 minutes and 55 seconds

NOT a big difference at all. they've never had long albums

with that said, the new album is fine, i enjoyed it on my first listen, i may revisit it, i may not, only time will tell,

 

Not really sure why we felt the need to get pedantic, but I'll play ball.

The version of this band that I fell in love with (2009-2014) wrote lots of 4+ minute songs that were good all the way through, and put out albums that felt moody and mysterious. I've found their songs less and less satisfying as they continue to shorten them and make them more direct. Now they can't even hold my attention for several 3-minute songs in a row, when they used to keep me glued for 40 minutes straight on a regular basis.

If you're working with a 31-minute runtime, you can't botch very much, but they currently seem to be attempting to botch their songs as an art form, which isn't working for me personally. Happy for anyone who enjoys it though.

 

The length of the album doesn't really bother me. I have always felt their albums have been of absolute quality and maybe them being shorter and curated albums is a part of that. Admittedly, I would have liked to have seen some of the shorter songs more fleshed out.

I guess to "bite" and play devil's advocate for those that are bothered by run time, id say 15% shorter on already short albums is a fairly decent-sized percentage difference?

 

I like the record overall, for me the biggest issue is that the only two songs I don't like (Gimme, Jealousy) arrive within the first 3 tracks, so it gets off to a stuttering start even if one of the better tracks (Car Crash Culture) is wedged between them. If the producer actually did want people to hate the record then he did a decent job with those two tracks. I don't see the need to cheapen them with annoying voice samples. Thankfully such choices are more muted or non-existent in the other tracks but does lead me to question, why bother at all? Those two tracks belong on an experimental ep I'm not going to listen to.

Some great stuff to be had elsewhere though and I appreciate the 1975 twist to the record from Lovesick onwards. Inhale (her) gives me big Music For Cars-era vibes. Lovesick is irresistible and Blame is a banger. There's more than enough here to get me excited to see them again next time they're in town. Doesn't feel like a natural follow-up to HOYH but I think that's the point. Still curious as ever to see what they do next.

 

Well following on from that last post I did get to see them again and was even lucky enough to get to chat to Murray and Jordan after the show. They are the nicest dudes and certainly didn't need to hang around afterwards meeting people but they did. Murray even played Inhale (her) acoustic during the set after I requested it. It was the first time they ever played it live.

Murray mentioned on stage they were writing a new record so I did a bit of probing and they revealed they already have a bunch of songs written and that they'd been listening to them in the van as they toured. Apparently it's shaping up to be a more straight-up rock record with the songs longer in length and less bells and whistles. They said LHTLALG was meant to be a youthful explosion of post-pandemic energy but this feels older and more sophisticated. No release frame was mentioned but sounds like it could be later next year.

Was really great hearing the LHTLALG tracks live, the album has definitely grown on me the past year. Looking forward to the next one already. What a band!

 

That's awesome to hear, thank you! I really think LHTLALG will be better understood/accepted as time goes on. I think that time period of the pandemic and immediately after was a really weird headspace for everyone involved. The album has generally grown on me, despite my reservations about the wildly short songs at times. I hope they're simply making music they want to make even if I would agree their longer, more straightforward rock songs in the vein of HOTYH are their strong suit. Either way, it's going to be catchy and emotional and I'll always support these guys.