Album Review: Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing
Mean Everything To Nothing, Manchester Orchestra’s sophomore effort, is the album that will be remembered for launching Manchester Orchestra into the mainstream. The band’s past album, I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child, focuses on teenage angst, with Andy Hull’s narratives acting as the driving force. On Mean Everything To Nothing, the angst is retained with an added overall band dynamic. The result is a sound that’s best described as emo-rock. With hard driving guitars and pounding drums (two kits at the band’s live shows) backing Hull’s pain-laden narratives, Manchester Orchestra has found the “Golden Ticket” into the mainstream.
After the wind-up of “The Only One”, it’s obvious the band’s sound has changed. By the third track and first single, “I’ve Got Friends”, it’s a welcomed change that remains consistent throughout the entire record. Upon hearing the record for the first time, a few months before it’s release, it was difficult to pick out which tracks would be singles. Quite frankly, nine of the tracks are radio and TV ready. All 11 tracks, on the already grandiose Mean Everything To Nothing, will have a video release. This seems like a presumptuous move for Hull and company, which is currently on Act V of XI in the video series with “In My Teeth”.
Mean Everything To Nothing flows seamlessly through the first five tracks and by the sixth, “100 Dollars”, listeners are given a bit of a break. The song acts as a perfect interlude, segueing into the last half of the album with “I Can Feel A Hot One” (originally released on the EP Let My Pride Be What’s Left Behind), “My Friend Marcus”, and the title track “Everything To Nothing”. On first listen, closing track “The River” seemed to be epic clocking in at 11:34 minutes. However, it’s a two part song with a silent interlude between parts. For fans of Manchester Orchestra’s original sound, the second part sounds a little closer to the band’s debut.
After tallying over 400 total spins from the 11, hugely accessible tracks, I am obviously biased. With that said, take this as a brief overview and by all means interpret the remainder of the album away. However, fitting in one last opinion, Mean Everything To Nothing is the definitive Manchester Orchestra album and warrants at least one listen-through.
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Yeah, you would think, Devin.
You’d think with this being Manchester’s definitive work it would merit more than 5 paragraphs. Also how and the hell is this emo? Just cause the dudes angry doesn’t make it emo.
Nice… I’ve been waiting since release day for you guys to review this album! So far, it’s my favorite release of 2009.
Oct 6th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
[...] night, one of alternative’s most promising bands, Manchester Orchestra (see our review of Mean Everything To Nothing,) played to a sold-out audience at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. After Sybris warmed up the [...]
Aug 8th, 2009 at 4:11 am
[...] crowd favorite. The muscle-y anthem about the success of others (off of the strong if unassuming Mean Everything To Nothing released in April) sounded just as thundering and sharp as the record, an impressive feat for such [...]
May 18th, 2009 at 10:19 am
[...] 21st Century Breakdown, Wilco’s Wilco (The Album), Tinted Window’s Tinted Windows, Manchester Orchestra’s Mean Everything To Nothing, Neil Young’s Fork in the Road, Yusuf Islam’s Roadsinger (To Warm You Through the [...]