Manchester Orchestra
Mean Everything To Nothing
Favorite Gentleman/Canvasback
By Kevin Hakansson
There's no feeling quite like finding an album that never leaves your car stereo. We've all been there - one particular record, whether old or new, that hits you in such a way that you really have no interest in listening to anything else. Well, it appears that Atlanta's Manchester Orchestra have entered such territory. While their 2007 debut I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child was a nice record that most decidedly got the attention of indie hipsters (see tours with Brand New, Kevin Devine and Say Anything, among others), the band's songwriting has matured exponentially, as Mean Everything to Nothing builds on the foundation Virgin built and establishes Manchester Orchestra as a rock 'n roll force of nature.
Boy, where to begin? Manch Orch covers so much ground over their sophomore album's eleven tracks, it's hard to determine which is most significant. The opening "The Only One" is a cutesy opening number in which mastermind Andy Hull reflects on just how he got to where he is, singing "I am the only son of a pastor I know who does the things I do." This opener is the song that most seems like it could have been a part of Virgin. The rest of the tunes here - well, I wouldn't exactly say the same thing about them.
After "The Only One," the band immediately presents the song that just might be the album's best. "Shake It Out" has it all. Hull bleats over the band's syncopated verses, and while the song’s "Are you tired of being alone?" chorus is fairly mild, Hull really lets loose. He screams the album's title over a heavy, distorted final chorus, then quiets things down, whispering "I felt the Lord begin to peel off all my skin," before he and his band let their big guitars ring out during the song's epic bridge section.
Even the album's first single, "I've Got Friends," has a definite edge to it. After a passive first verse, the Orchestra lays on the distortion for the chorus and additional verses, Hull's vocals changing from melodic singing to convulsing shouts. Despite that, the song is certainly catchy enough to warrant its single status, highlighted by a group vocal shout of the song's chorus.
Just when it seems the band is slowing things down, they catch you napping. "Pride" starts with Hull singing quietly over a simple strummed guitar line, but this only lasts 45 seconds or so. Thereafter, the band rips riffs that Black Sabbath would be proud of, while a sparse drumbeat enhances the undeniable rage that the repeated guitar line conveys. The band speeds the chorus up a bit, but inevitably returns to this badass opening riff.
"In My Teeth" starts with a guitar riff that channels Kurt Cobain, but as it turns out, this one actually turns out to be one of the catchier moments on the record, it's "You never really needed it anyway" offsetting more verses where Hull mentions Jesus.
Though a modicum of internet research suggests that Manchester Orchestra isn't necessarily a religiously influenced band, Hull, who has spoken in interviews about his Christian upbringing, manages to slip plenty of references to the big guy upstairs into Mean Everything to Nothing. One such reference comes on the opus "I Can Feel a Hot One." This tune made its initial appearance on 2008's Let My Pride Be What's Left Behind EP, but it takes on a whole new context on the record. This one's about as emo as the band gets, Hull's sensitive vocals beautifully harmonized throughout the song. He's alone at the end though, singing "The Lord showed me dreams of my daughter, she was crying inside your stomach. And I felt love again." This lyric may read as corny, but it translates beautifully coming from Hull's fragile tenor.
The band spends much of the rest of the record proclaiming the song's title. The freewheeling "My Friend Marcus" has the band shouting "I can see, you mean everything to nothing" as the song's rollicking chorus. After "Tony the Tiger," the band takes it one step further with the title track. Hull and company recapture the epic bridge from "Shake It Out," for this tune's pre-verse guitar licks, an ascending, galloping romp, that persists throughout the song, soft when it needs to be soft, loud when it needs to be loud, eventually backing the band as it once again screams it's creed "You mean everything to nothing."
The band opts not to end their phenomenal effort on that note. This seems like a questionable decision at the time, but "The River" really turns out to be basically an extension of the rest of the record, and a fine ending. Hull provides more of his unique takes on human relationships, and the band continues playing the big, ballsy riffs that make this record special.
Industry types have been buzzing about the potential songwriting prowess Hull possesses since he was a junior in high school, and while he couldn't have hoped for a better national introduction than I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, the leap that Manchester Orchestra made with Mean Everything is truly staggering. Apologies to you undergrounders who loved Virgin and thought Manch Orch was one of those indie bands only you knew about; that's all about to change.
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