Relient K - Air For Free Album • Page 9

Well yeah. Brand New knows what they're doing and are just obnoxious about it. This band does basically nothing from what I can tell...

 

Brand New has become pretty obnoxious now that you mention it. Never had a good word for them. I don't even know with Relient k, like it just makes no sense. The no CD thing is especially weird still since it's still a heavily used format. Like they're literally detouring people from buying the album by not having it on one of the three big formats. I want to buy it, but I don't have the option.

 

Yeah it's weird. It kinda comes off as (pardon the pun) apathetic.

 

Alright time for my first thoughts!

1. Bummin'- I mean still solid. The weakest of the two songs plus Look On Up imo, but still a lot better than majority of CL.
2. Local Construction - Wow. I love this. Great lyrics. First listen and it's already one of my favorite songs ever by them.
3. Mrs. Hippopotamuses' - OH-IO. Still love this one. Such a fun song. Also the guitar and bass in this song are great.
4. Cat - This is some odd instrumentation. This feels like a mix of the oddness of Disaster with the upbeat lyrics of something like a better version of Can't Complain.
5. Man - Wasn't a fan for the first minute, but then the tempo change made it grow. I love how layered this album is instrumentally so far.
6. Air For Free - Interesting vocal layering here. Not feeling it as much as the others really.
7. God - Good to see them talk about their faith. Especially after "they abandoned God with PTL" as the subreddit would say. But seriously I'm not too big of the super praise and worshipy songs usually, but enjoyed this.
8. Elephant Parade - Disaster 2.0 instrumentally. Didn't expect the change about halfway through. Beatles vibes with the ending there.
9. Mountaintop - I feel like Matt wrote this for his new wife. Nice fun song
10. Sleepin' - I like the intro of the guitar and trumpet. Once again I really like how the album sounds instrumentally. Hope they can capture the depth live with some of these.
11. Empty House - It is weird to hear the auto tune, but I like this song. Love the piano a lot.
12. Flower - Can really hear the Beach Boys and Beatles influences here.
13. Marigold - I want to hear this apparent intro. I really like the "Nothing but the sunny" part to the end.
14. Runnin' - Love the fast start for the song. That bass line in section two was great. I feel like they're doing something similar to what Weezer did on "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)" with the crazy style changes.
15. Prodigal - I like God better. It's like Air For Free for me, not feeling the vibes as much.
16. Heartache - I love when bands do call backs to the album. I really like how instead of doing it lyrically, they do it with the instrumentals. Perfect way to close the album.

First listen was great. Liked it a lot. I would say Local Construction is my favorite so far and Prodigal was my least. I need the lyrics too since sometimes Matt was singing pretty fast and/or the instruments made some lines hard to hear. Also gonna try the album in vinyl order see how that changes it.

 

Worth the wait. What a fantastic album.

 

Full album stream: Pandora Premieres

 

On my third listen.

Will spend a lot of time with this, and I have a lot more to say about it but for now I'll just say that I absolutely love it.

So happy.

 

After one listen, really like the feel of this...lots of diversity and some really cool stuff that is different for them

 

Two songs in and right off the bat I'm really, gleefully loving this record.

 

This record rocks. What a return to form.
Also, the way the first line of 'Empty House' is sung really reminds me of 'One Headlight,' haha.

 

I'll take overtly Christian lyrics all day if they're over melodies like this and sung the way they are. Musically this band makes up for any lyrical themes I may be uninterested in.

 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but 'Prodigal' is oddly Sufjan-y and I'm way into it.

 

I was really really into this on first listen. I think the auto tune works on Empty House.

 

On track 7. This is the first band I loved and still the one I love the most. Collapsible Lung made me sad. This makes me very, very happy. More thoughts later.

 

Just got shipment notification on the vinyl. This is good.

 

Passively listening at work. I've enjoyed everything up until God so far. I didn't like Bummin' on its own, but it works great to kick off the album and all the other songs up until God seems to build on one another. There's so much positive energy I love it. I still enjoy the instrumentation on God, but the lyrics are too on the nose for me. I'll have headphones on lunch so I can listen more intently then.

 

I'm on board after hearing the random punk beat after the second song... welcome back Relient K missed you guys.. I only love two records from these guys.. mmmmhmm and forget and not slow down.. lets make it three

 

Elephant Parade is amazing!

 

Been listening in the background at work all morning, going through my first listen with full attention and it's amazing so far. This is the RK experimentation I love.

 

Got my vinyl shipping notification. Going to wait until I have it in hand. So happy to see such positive thoughts on it.

Can;t wait!!!!

 

any way to listen other than pandora?

 

This is the record I wished they had made immediately after FANSD, instead of Collapsible Lung. (In my original post it made it sound like I disliked FANSD, even though it's an all time favorite) CL really took some of the shine off them for me, but I really really like this album. Glad to have one of my favorite bands from my youth and adolescence back in my life in a big way

 

Well cool, this is a huge surprise. Didn't expect to like this nearly as much as I do on first listen.

 

Kingdom leaks.

 

"Man" is such a good song, might be my favorite so far. Really like "Local Construction," "Cat," and "God" as well.

Trying out the vinyl track list and I like it a lot.