Manchester Orchestra

Much like the work of Death Cab For Cutie, Manchester Orchestra’s full-length debut is a frail, simple, and sonically beautiful collection of direct, from-the-heart indie music. The band puts all emphasis on songwriting in this release, using individual instruments as means to an end, instead of ends in themselves. Because of this, each individual track, much like the stories sketched by Andy Hull’s lyrics, flows lucidly with great up-and-down dynamics and a keen sense of balance.

Hooks are aplenty on I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child: instantly grabbing, but never cheap. The simplistic songwriting and Hull’s right-place-at-the-right-time vocal phrasing are what make the aural gaffs so ubiquitous. Another key aspect of Virgin is Jeremiah Edmond’s drumming. He doesn’t drown the melody with unnecessary fills, yet always seems to catch me with some tricky timing underneath seemingly simple passages.

Along with the allusion to Death Cab, Manchester Orchestra’s record also boasts the delicate brilliance of Brand New’s most recent LP, but to be honest, pretentiousness is, thankfully, lacking on Virgin: most of the songs seem effortlessly constructed.

The mixture of natural, straightforward progression and passion make this record not only brilliant, but also instantly accessible, which is commendable for a record of such depth. Going on would be redundant, so I’ll recommend “Wolves at Night”, “Where Have You Been”, and “Now That You’re Home” for those not willing to take the plunge just yet. Really, though, this band meshes the ideals and aspects of so may genres of music to craft something undeniably brilliant that it’ll be hard for anybody to deny its excellence.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Wolves At Night
02. Now That You’re Home
03. The Neighborhood Is Bleeding
04. I Can Feel Your Pain
05. Where Have You Been?
06. I Can Barely Breathe
07. Sleeper 1972
08. Golden Ticket
09. Alice And Interiors
10. Don’t Let Them See You Cry
11. Colly Strings

Run Time: 43:45