Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years (September 16, 2016) Album • Page 25

look at how clean the jazzy looks back then, jeez

 

second listen of this was better than the first, solid album

 

this is solidly a tier below their other three records but still a good album nonetheless

feel like an astonishing amount of care & calculation & attention to detail went into their last three that is clearly absent from this release

 

its at least on par with the debut but below lenses and lose

 

disagree. it's easily my favorite by them. the guitar tones here are such a step above everything else and i tend to like his vocals here more than previous stuff.

 

the guitar tones alone arent enough to make this better than lose or lenses imo

 

i agree. it isn't the only reason i like it more. it's just my favorite aspect of the album.

 

word i do think the guitar tones are what really shine on this thing but the lyrical content of lose and the atmosphere of lenses put those a slight bit ahead

 

yeah, lyrics (and corresponding vocal melodies) are where i notice the most significant step down. in interviews joe's said his lyric-writing mentality for this record was "if you're thinking you're shitting" and that kind of shows in a not-good way

the guitar tones are really pretty but the guitar tones on lenses surpass the ones here imo

 

Best album of theirs for me, no contest. I think great care and consideration went into literally every element of this, don't see how it's fair to project that onto someone else's work. The arrangements are pristine, the production polish with all those weird glam touches are outrageous in the best way. Lyrically, it's less wordy but I wouldn't say that dictates quality, there are simple lines in this that make me pause and smile all the time.

Just my feelings of course, neither opinion is right or wrong

 

joe has literally stated that his mentality for writing these lyrics has been not thining about them lmao

and observing and opining about someone else's work is hardly projecting, what a weird thing to say

 

You said care and calculation is clearly absent from this album, I think it's not? Don't get why that's weird

 

you said specifically that me saying that care and calculation is absent from this record is me projecting, as if i haven't critically thought about it and have reasons to think it lol

also i don't think the lyrics are worse because they're "less wordy", they are far less observant, approach the themes they tackle from a far less abstract (and hence more accessible and much easier to write) perspective, contain many passages that are corny and aesthetically displeasing and would never have made it onto the lyrics for any of their previous work, and have very clumsy phrasings that result in weak vocal delivery

this isn't relative to the work of other bands. this is relative to their previous work, which exemplifies some of the very best indie rock lyricism. like to give one example of the attention to detail i'm talking about, the phrasing in "some trees (merritt moon)" where he crams a millions words flawlessly into a vocal melody is immaculate. you can obviously tell that every single line was carefully thought about. that's not the case here, at least not lyrically.

 

you're talking about lyrics in a very objective way and i don't believe that's the case with them

 

there are objective qualities to be analyzed in lyrics though? meter, how well the natural phrasings fit that of the vocal delivery, imagery, etc.

 

Jesus Christ

 

Literally have no problem with anything you're saying, just don't think it's fair to say that it's clear that less calculation went into this album - maybe the math is just simpler?

You're response was very well thought out and you've obviously put way more time into an analysis of this record than I have, I just kindly disagree with that one sentiment. Not a big deal

 

i think a lot of that stuff can still go with some people's personal taste though. some people may not like (not saying in this case, more of a general thing) more abstract lyrics and may prefer more of a storytelling vein, or vice versa, i feel like there are a lot of subjective qualities to all of this

 

I don't think the phrase "If you're thinking, you're shitting" means there wasn't still plenty of care put into the album's lyrics and themes. They're a big reason this album is my favorite of theirs (paired with the production choices and bold direction)

 

i love the dancing days lyrics but i love everything about the song so yea

 

sorry y'all

 

nah i think youre right on point tbh

 

why we can't we have two camps??

 

cwhit coming thru

 

as wonderful as lose is

"gary condit" to me is their most poignant song about loss & especially the loss of someone young

and it means a lot to me right now