Bad Books – Bad Books
The Premise
Bad Books is billed as side project combination of Manchester Orchestra and Kevin Devine. It plays out more as merger of MO’s Andy Hull’s solo project, Right Away Great Captain!, and the folk stylings of Kevin Devine with the other members of Manchester Orchestra serving as a backing band on a few tracks.
The two songwriters met while touring with Brand New in 2007. They have been seemingly inseparable since then. When Kevin Devine was dropped from his previous label he quickly joined his friends at Favorite Gentlemen, a record label made up almost entirely of the members of Manchester Orchestra. In their time spent together since they had toyed with the idea of writing music together. Bad Books is the result of their recent decision to act on their idea. The result is impressive.
The Tracklist
- How This All Ends
- The Easy Mark & The Old Maid
- Baby Shoes
- You’re A Mirror I Cannot Avoid
- Holding Down The Laughter
- You Woudn’t Have to Ask
- I Begged You Everything
- Please Move
- Mesa, AZ
- Texas
Listen While You Read
The Album
The album has a decidedly lo-fi sound that is no surprise to those familiar with Hull & Devine’s solo works. The production plays perfectly into the to style and content of the album. From start to finish the album feels like a musical journey. The album holds roots in the folk genre but often seems to be pulling inspiration from everything from The Beatles to The Beach Boys to Nirvana.
If there is any complaint about the album is that it’s no surprise. It is very much just an album where the two songwriters take turns as lead while the other provides beautiful harmonies. Of course this is like complaining that you knew the best thing you’ve ever eaten was going to be the best thing you’ve ever eaten.
The album’s opener, “This This All Ends”, swells with an ethereal quality until finally bursting into a Beatles-esque chorus. Like the rest of the album that follows the opening track preserves it sense of simplicity even though it’s built on beautiful layers of complex instrumentation.
Kevin Devine takes the lead on the follow up track, “The Easy Mark and the Old Maid”. It is essentially the Kevin Devine you’ve come to know and love from his previous efforts that is now being support by enchanting backing vocals.
Track 3, “Baby Shoes”, begins with some surprisingly evenly mixed vocals. As the track progresses Devine’s vocals fade almost completely away.
The album continues to trade back in forth between leads with Kevin Devine presenting tracks such as, “You’re A Mirror I Cannot Avoid”, which are almost completely solo efforts. The presence of the other members of Manchester Orchestra becomes readily apparent on the track “Please Move” which sounds like it would have fit in perfectly on the MO’s most recent album, “Mean Everything to Nothing”.
Final Word
This album in unsurprisingly good and a major contender for my album of year.
