The Church - Untitled #23
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Music CD Cover
Artist: The ChurchEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-05-12
Music Label: SECOND MOTION
Free Music Notes for Untitled #23
Free Music Review: An Apex of an Album
Hit: 5 Stars
The Church have been at it for 30 years. This is a long review but this album and overlooked band warrants it. This is a band with rabid followers and for good reason. During the course of 30 years they went from Aussie sensations in the early years to the highly acclaimed album Starfish touring with the likes of Peter Murphy and hitting the conscious radar with the ubiquitous song Under The Milky way and the tantalizing song Reptile. The Church was well on their way to their current sound with the masterpiece album Heyday. Throughout the years the band has had a couple lineup changes on the drum throne and lost the critical guitar playing of Peter Koppes for a while (who has since returned to the fold). However, The Church finally has a lineup that has sustained them for over ten years and they are putting out the best albums of any band on the planet. Radiohead are school boy apprentices compared to these guys and don't even get me started on the rubbish that is Coldplay...
Along with scoring the incredibly talented Tim Powells on drums, Tim also handles much of the engineering and production work in his SpaceJunk studios. No doubt the band is not constrained by big studio time clocks and egomaniac engineers and "producers". The music the band has been churing out the past decade reflects a comfortable environment and space. The music industry is in a pathetic state of affairs when a band this good can be under the collective radar but I question the ability of the major population to really understand what it's like to sink into an album and give it repeated listens to uncover the subtle nuances an album like Untitled #23 or any of the Church albums of the last ten years possess. Will Pitch fork review this album? Who knows and who cares. The current crop of indie bands sound childish next to The Church. Rolling Stone hit the nail on the head giving #23 a 5 out of 5 star review. There could be a musical revolution and it could start with this band...if people would open their ears and give themselves over to the music. The Church don't just make music, they make moods.
Untitled #23 starts with a solid solitary drum trap and tambourine and slowly progresses into an opiate inducing affair with Kilbey's rich vocals drifting on top of layers of beautifully textured guitars. The song slowly inches towards a guitar passage that is reminiscent of the best Gilmour playing. You could easily take this guitar passage and other parts of the album and mistake it for vintage Floyd. There is darkness to this album that in my mind somehow picks up where The Final Cut left off musically. Make one thing clear though, The Floyd were masters of their domain as are The Church. I challenge any current bands ability to make the type of sonic landscapes that Marty Willson Piper, Peter Koppes, Kilbey, and Tim Poweels make are making. There is nothing copping Floyd here, just the same vibe and incredibly lush guitar playing at times. Kilbey and Marty Willson Piper have each released the best solo albums of their career in the past year (Painkiller and Nightjar respectively). The collage like lyrics delivered by Kilbey are not easy to pin down the meaning of and that is another attribute of The Church...like the best books, they let your mind do the interpretation. The Characters and landscapes are yours for the taking. Imagination plays a big part in understanding the depth of this music.
Happenstance is a standout track with the dense layers of vocals. Another dimension of The Church is the entire band possesses great vocal abilities and the harmonies on this album are remarkable even by Church standards. On Happenstance, Kilbey's baritone leads way into Piper's dark, eerie, and hushed vocal delivery. The closing track Operetta gives the album an upbeat yet sad ending that is as intriguing and haunting as finding that a loved one's ghost inhabits your house.
Space Savior opens up with a Richard's like riff that leads into a lush land that never quite gives you the satisfaction of opening up completely with an anticipated 4 time drumbeat but The Church know how to keep you wanting more. Sunken Sun is an absolute beautiful dream of a melody that evokes images of monsters, love and memories that pulls the best breakdowns in recent memory barring The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips. There is something special about a band with the tenure of The Church making music on their terms and not on the industries terms.
But it would be pointless to dissect each song on this album because in fact...this is an album - meant to be listened to beginning to end (Yes the concept is not yet dead...thankfully). This in an album of forlorn vistas that is as georogus as it is ethereal. Listening to one or two tracks doesn't do it justice. Listening to it once or twice doesn't do it justice. Be prepared to be transported and into another dimension with Untitled #23 and give it your attention. This is a band at their creative and musical peak that few bands can even touch. The Church are touring the states starting in June for their first North American tour in years. If you are a true lover of rich atmospheric music and want to see a band at their peak that can deliver it in spades, you owe it to yourself to catch them on this tour. You never know how long it might be until the next tour or the world wakes up and then it will be too late to see them in an intimate environment...
Untitled #23 Poster
Australia s legendary band, The Church returns with what is arguably the most creative and inspiring record of their almost 30 year career. Second Motion Records in conjunction with the band s very own Unorthodox Records will release the new album ''Untitled #23'' on May 12th with a full-on North American tour in June/July. The album will feature 10 tracks of thoughtful simplistic epics, unusual in its ability to be simultaneously dark and accessible. An irresistibly melodic album, dense, psychedelic, yet emotive and personal. Set in a lush soundscape carved out of another world, the band has succeeded in creating a listenable work of art, meshing guitars and rhythms into a sonic journey of intrigue and understanding.Alternative Rock Music CDs
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