Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing
Rating
RIYL
Brand NewWeezer
Right Away, Great Captain!
Winston Audio
Release Date
04/21/2009
Tracklist
1. The Only One2. Shake It Out
3. I’ve Got Friends
4. Pride
5. In My Teeth
6. 100 Dollars
7. I Can Feel A Hot One
8. My Friend Marcus
9. Tony The Tiger
10. Everything To Nothing
11. The River
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When the Neutral Milk Hotel-saluting verse of “The Only One” first finds vocalist Andy Hull warbling, “I am the only one who thinks I’m going crazy and I don’t know what to do,” it blares every warning a monumental record is about to follow. And, aw heck no, Mean Everything to Nothing doesn’t disappoint in the least. Manchester Orchestra uncannily obliterate any possibility of a sophomore slump here, leaving the very suggestion of the album as a shortcoming baseless and unfounded. In the place where disappointment and let down could have gnashed their gargantuan, career-ending teeth, aspiration and inspiration stand victorious, and listeners can glimpse perfection with their ears. Perfection may be too arrogant a word for some, but consensus can, without a sparkling doubt, be reached that this Atlanta, Georgia’s second LP is remarkably strong.
What is strong? Strong is “Shake It Out”'s driving intensity that morphs into desperate screams, slow chord progression climbs and then screams again. Strong is the powerful line, “’Cause when I need you / I need it quickly!” in the flagship track and single “I’ve Got Friends,” along with its delectable assortment of ear candies (the pop-punk vibe of the chorus, the riff with a Middle Eastern harmony, and the fist-pumping sing along). Strong is groovy southern riffs “Pride” claims to be an expert on, the smart-alec “In My Teeth” (“Jesus is coming back / He acts my age… / Goddamn did you mean to do that to me?”), and the unsettling upbeat-ism of “100 Dollars."
Strong is the emotional Let My Pride Be What’s Left Behind's recurrent “I Can Feel A Hot One,” which can conjure tears in even the most stoic listeners with just its closing lyrics (“And the Lord showed me dreams of my daughter / She was crying inside your stomach / And I felt love again”). Strong is the anthemic self-realization of “My Friend Marcus” that belts, “Now I can see / You mean everything to nothing / Now I believe / You mean everything,” and the light synth-romp “Tony the Tiger.” Strong can even be the now intimate Manchester Orchestra sound the grand “Everything To Nothing” carries, but strong is most definitely the mountainous lyrical depth the 11 ½ minute epic closer “The River” boasts.
The album never strays from the warm familiarity of I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child, with its potent rock and intellectual lyrics wielded like a two-pronged defense mechanism, ready to dispel whatever negatives critics cook up. Hull’s substantial vocals continue to bring a somewhat sarcastic tone in dynamic moments and leak sentiment in softer areas, while the rest of the band is as heavy as their debut’s “I Can Barely Breath.” Nevertheless, Mean Everything to Nothing manages to present itself as a maturation of the song-writing found on the previous album, and to much success. The band draws many comparisons, one of them being to the prestigious Brand New, but with the dawning of Manchester Orchestra’s second album, it can’t be too far-fetched to claim they have surpassed, or are on track to surpassing Brand New in ambition and greatness. Mean Everything to Nothing is just the kind of record that requires multiple adjectives to properly paint a description – but quite simply, it’s very strong.
--Matthew Tsai
Comments
Atascadero, CA
stoked on this band, they're going to do big things.
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Dubuque
This album is fucking great.
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San Jose, CA
MO make a strong run for AOTY here.
my only objection is that the person who edited the review added a "so much more" at the end of paragraph 2, making it sound like the album doesn't quite achieve "strong," but whatever, i'm just being picky haha :)
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Minnesota
Maybe if you remembered to use a conjunction in your list I wouldn't have had to add the last bit to make it a proper, grammatically correct sentence. :)
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Dubuque
BURN!
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San Jose, CA
shame on me, you're right. i was trying too hard to be artsy haha. thanks for fixing it though
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Alabama
I wish I had this record. Easily one of my favorite bands. I can't wait!
Dubuque
Yeah it kind of sucks to get a conversation brewing since most people haven't heard the album yet.
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I'm really stoked to spin this disc. Hopefully this thread can still be fresh in a couple of weeks...
Dallas, TX
This record is absolutely amazing. I had been reading some really good reviews and was afraid that I might have been setting my hopes to high but it totally help up to my expectations. One of the best of the year so far IMO.
Lehigh Valley, PA
So I finally just got a chance to listen to this...HOLY SHIT! Best album of the year so far.
Atlanta
This album delivered all my expectations, fuckin brilliant.
San Jose, CA
The worst part about these kind of albums is that they're so good, you wear the album out in about a week.
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Minnesota
Color me let down. After all of the hype for this album and band, I was a bit let down. The album itself isn't that bad (probably a 3.5 out of 5 for me), but it is no way lives up to all the frothing at the mouth everyone is doing when talking about these guys.
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Dubuque
I don't froth at the mouth. I'm not an animal.
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Coopersburg, PA
Typically, hype pushes me away from bands but this album really is fantastic. There's a nice variety of songs from slower indie jams to heavier songs like Pride. Easily the best release this year for me.
I was logging in to post something just like this. I think Rick's just being the resident stickler.
Minnesota
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I say this with love, but I really don't think you can use the term "elitist" to describe yourself when you're listening to As I Lay Dying or A Day To Remember.
Minnesota
To be an elitist, you can listen to whatever you want, as long as you hate everything popular and claim you're only listening to it to be ironic :-)
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Somewhere in New York
"If someone gives you a kazoo and toots around the house to MTV, they're not gonna fuck you." - David Cross
West Haven, CT
DAMN! Not to rehash the same conversation, but I love this CD.
The Cityscape Burns Brighter By The Hour.