[Cooper]

Please blast me my good friends

[spongebob]

Crunchitize me please <3

[headroom)))]

DownthereSwampthing wrote:

Long time lurker coming out of the swamp to NOT request a punch. I am loving hearing people's first impressions, but feel compelled to wait it out. When the album drops in full quality, I am going to take it for a drive, then a hike, and then another drive. Maybe I'll go up to my roof and watch the sun set to Royal and Desire. It's been a heck of a ride and I can't thank this forum enough for helping me get to where we are now. Cheers!

You got the right attitude! I'm also gonna wait for official drop day and make some time for repeated listening AWAY from the computer, somewhere outside with good air.

[moop]

Blast me

[Fovrodi]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Hellomark]

Definitely understand that one guys Fleetwood Mac comparison. It makes me think of a lot of like west coast 60s pop music in general. Have to say, the beach boys comparisons are old hat, but they really do feel warranted for some of these songs.

[zarya]

Spoiler: show

I feel like I hear a couple things from earlier albums all over the place. Car Keys sounds like a CHz song, live, down to the synths. Royal and Desire definitely has a sample I've heard before. And it totally ends with the In The Flowers intro

[Daffy Duck]

Can I get a boosted split bird from someone please?

[BearPAtrol]

Hook me up please!

[MFpotus]

Hey please boost me

[scummy]

Car Keys goes absolutely insane. i didnt like it in the boots but i could tell that with some polish i would enjoy it.

[foxtrot]

this is fucking agony

[dio]

vinyl rip has this super slight but still-there like dustiness or some veneer of ever so slight fuzz where there should be sharpness.

this is good. can't wait to bump in car, still don't really understand it all yet lol

despite all the beautiful I can hear the size and nature of the dust on Stan's crosley's needle. And it'll drive me crazy enough to stop listening to this tonight.... (or tomorrow...)

[scummy]

Strung With Everything suddenly gets sped up a lot LMAO

[dio]

We Go Back is nuts. That and Dragonslayer are just clear blessings.

Blast and all '21 Cherokee I am verrrrry attached to. But this one is done beautiful and I think will settle.

DDD is good but doesn't go as hard for me as some

I miss Broke Zodiac and also Gem & I. I think they should do a panda-lead single of versions they did of those 2 in NY recently. It's clearly the same cloth. Defeat I can weight for, but the other 2 Panda tracks (not even including Sea of Light) would round out the whole era.

This is a crazy release tho. Def the start of some renaissance 2 b dramatic af. But there wouldn't be so many noobs saying "best since FBK" if there weren't some truth to it...

[Slothrope]

Could I please get the split tetsuo bird? thank you!

[Hellomark]

Have listened to Cherokee 3 times now. There is so much going on in these songs, the production is amazing. Even with the vinyl rip there are so many little details that keep popping out at me that I didn't hear immediately. That's AC classico baby. One example: there's another Avey that whispers the line "but really it was he" under the main vocal in Cherokee. So good, the vocal production throughout this album reminds me of Sung Tongs a lot.

[foxtrot]

[mlohned]

I'd love some punchitized boost-bird if there are any left overs!
Its been a fun ride and I can't believe it's not over.

Edit: I sniffed one out, don't mind me

[TetsuoUnderFire]

dio wrote:

vinyl rip has this super slight but still-there like dustiness or some veneer of ever so slight fuzz where there should be sharpness.

this is good. can't wait to bump in car, still don't really understand it all yet lol

despite all the beautiful I can hear the size and nature of the dust on Stan's crosley's needle. And it'll drive me crazy enough to stop listening to this tonight.... (or tomorrow...)

yeah i probably should have pulled some of the lo-end from the static down more, i'm noticing that too. i tried that at first but i worried it would take too much away from the actual bass.

that being said listening to car keys - does anyone else get a very heavy "The Painters" vibe from this track or is that just me? I don't know why but it reminds me of Hounds of Bairro and Peacemaker type stuff for some reason. I really dig it.

[wilandhugs]

Then I go back

And I play it again

[wilandhugs]

TetsuoUnderFire wrote:

dio wrote:

vinyl rip has this super slight but still-there like dustiness or some veneer of ever so slight fuzz where there should be sharpness.

this is good. can't wait to bump in car, still don't really understand it all yet lol

despite all the beautiful I can hear the size and nature of the dust on Stan's crosley's needle. And it'll drive me crazy enough to stop listening to this tonight.... (or tomorrow...)

yeah i probably should have pulled some of the lo-end from the static down more, i'm noticing that too. i tried that at first but i worried it would take too much away from the actual bass.

that being said listening to car keys - does anyone else get a very heavy "The Painters" vibe from this track or is that just me? I don't know why but it reminds me of Hounds of Bairro and Peacemaker type stuff for some reason. I really dig it.

Totally, I honestly get Goalkeeper vibes. Something about that song is so airy, and so is CK. Obv besides the CHz influence I also feel a bit of Ark in the sorta nastiness that's oozing out of the song

[dio]

ya and to reiterate, its not bad at all and I can tell that you made it nicer, but even just knowing its a vinyl rip is keeping me from fully enjoying, but that's fine. my next 1,000 listens will be 320/off cd or my own vinyl...

[foxtrot]

Does Noah keep any of the snarliness in his vocal performance?

[wilandhugs]

foxtrot wrote:

Does Noah keep any of the snarliness in his vocal performance?

Spoiler: show

Not totally, but it's in his delivery, the whole image he conjures his quite bleak. He's got this sheen on his voice that makes it clear he's using some kind of light auto tune

[dio]

Spoiler: show

I'd say so. It's a kind of unique tone for him in AC track catalogue... almost has something in common with like Daily Routine or I Think I Can or NTB style panda which is sick.

Not the strait dub pop of the panda ones that didnt make it but a little gnarlier. That one and WGB im most into so far, and I kinda slept on those live

[wilandhugs]

dio wrote:

Spoiler: show

I'd say so. It's a kind of unique tone for him in AC track catalogue... almost has something in common with like Daily Routine or I Think I Can or NTB style panda which is sick.

Not the strait dub pop of the panda ones that didnt make it but a little gnarlier. That one and WGB im most into so far, and I kinda slept on those live

WGB might be my standout and was also the dud for me, skipped Bolder most times and never queued it from the blast sessions.

[TetsuoUnderFire]

wilandhugs wrote:

Totally, I honestly get Goalkeeper vibes. Something about that song is so airy, and so is CK. Obv besides the CHz influence I also feel a bit of Ark in the sorta nastiness that's oozing out of the song

Maybe that's the song I'm thinking of. I can feel a bit of CHz on this entire album tbh, which is totally fine with me. It's much more mellowed out and less kind of in your face I guess?

dio wrote:

ya and to reiterate, its not bad at all and I can tell that you made it nicer, but even just knowing its a vinyl rip is keeping me from fully enjoying, but that's fine. my next 1,000 listens will be 320/off cd or my own vinyl...

usually with new albums i don't even feel like i like them enough to listen repeatedly but this is something different. i'm going to wear this vinyl tf out lol

[robgnarr]

would love it if someone hooked me up w a booster <3

[doggyfactory]

how is no one discussing avey's lil, mario-esque "WAH!" in the dragon slayer pre-chorus. too good.

[foxtrot]

thanks for the spoilers champions!

i'm living on the fumes rn

['Worms']

aoty imo tbh

[lhtd]

foxtrot wrote:

thanks for the spoilers champions!

i'm living on the fumes rn

:’)

[Overgrowing]

initial thoughts: I like this a lot more than I expected to! I didn't really have *low* expectations but the singles all felt very different from eachother and I was worried the album wasn't going to sound cohesive or have that sense of a consistent sense of place that most of their other albums have. I'm getting really pronounced images in my mind in a way that's very exciting. I think the tunnel imagery from the prester john video was spot on- this album feels like floating through a dark tunnel while all you can see is light glinting off bronze surfaces.

I only have a couple minor criticisms: I preferred the 2021 live version of the outro to car keys, but this version is cool in its own way, and it's not like the live recordings are going to disappear from existence. there are some minor cases where I feel like the samples/experimental flourishes on some songs are mixed in a way that detracts from the sense of space. they often don't have a lot of reverb, presumably so they can still be present in the mix while being played at a lower volume than the core instruments, but because the rest of the mix is pretty reverb-heavy, it sort of gives the impression that those sounds sit in front of the other instruments in the sound field, which I find distracting. the best example of this I can find a specific timestamp for is 3:33 in prester john, where there's a weird little sound that sticks out kind of oddly to me. this bothers me a lot less when listening with speakers, though, so I wonder if they sort of geared it towards being a 'speaker' album than a 'headphones' one (which I think is pretty much the norm for them, come to think of it)

some more specific observations:
the (I think) autoharp on dragon slayer is a great addition. I really like the way noah's voice sounds on car keys. the wonky bass rhythm in cherokee feels a lot better here than in the 2021 boots and the climax is really well-handled. I like panda's backing vox on passerby even if I miss the harmonizer a little. some of the harmonies on royal and desire have a real fleet foxes sound to them and it works really well, and the way they switch up the chords near the end makes it hit really hard for me emotionally in a way that's pleasantly and surprisingly direct for AC

[MFpotus]

Cherokee is a revelation. Highlight of the album for me. Avey's delivery in the verses sounds different than anything he's done before. The whole thing is incredible. My only demoitis is the outro of Car Keys. Still good but quite different than the live version.

Also I just want to say I love participating album release week with you all and reading everyone's posts. AC is so special to me and at this point I don't take that for granted. The anticipation of this album has pulled me through a lot of shit the past few weeks. And they fucking delivered :')

[kbakz]

Spoiler: show

damn this is all so very good. Dragonslayer is a cool way to open the album. Avey's voice is great on it and I like how slow it is compared to the boots.
Car Keys is really amazing. Panda's voice is so good, kind of punchy/sharp or sassy maybe? Will have to relisten. The new synth didn't bother me too much, think it will make more sense with the higher quality. Will echo what others have said and say that I miss the extended outro but so it goes! Still a great track without it.
Prester John is fine, was never really a big fan to begin with. Strung is a clear highlight. Whoever compared it to the Rolling Stones was spot on I think. Walker is good not great. Enough has been said about these songs anyway.
Cherokee really surprised me. I was never crazy about it from the boots but the bridge in this version is so fucking good. Avey and Deakin building up to the climax of the bridge really floored me. So good to hear Deakin on these songs!
Passersby is fine, wasn't a big fan from the boots and still don't think it's anything special. It's lacking something, don't know what though. Maybe it'll grow on me. Panda's part at the end is nice though.
We Go Back is great, didn't like the boots of it. The autotune always felt awkward and I didn't get why they needed it in the first place. With this version though, the autotune works so well with the other voices. It doesn't overpower at all. I think the ending leaves a bit to be desired but that's okay. Still a fun track.
Royal and Desire is really great. Such a gentle, emotional song. Love that they chose it as the closer. The sax is unexpected but makes so much sense too. Deakin sounds great, and his harmonies with Panda about halfway through are gorgeous, it's so good to hear him on this track and throughout the album as well. I was worried initially that his voice wouldn't go great with the others' but it really works and I'm excited to hear him in future songs/albums! Imagine what previous albums could have sounded like with him on them!
I don't generally like to rank albums or whatever but this is absolutely their best album in a while. The harmonies and melodies are complex and all of their voices sound great together. The drumming is really great too, big props to Panda. Production is great, complements the songs so well. Excited to hear it in all its glory on Friday! Sorry for the scattered thoughts, needed to get them all down!

[taptherockies]

Tet, I must have gotten your version while doing some soul-searching. Fantastic job, sounds great on my setup at least!

Spoiler: show

The Car Keys synth is great IMO, especially the parts where it's pitched down.

Spoiler: show

Passer-by's ending was a disappointing, but the surprise Panda vocal made me okay with it

Spoiler: show

We Go Back just doesn't fit thematically to me. Someone said they got Monkey Riches vibes from Car Keys, but I think that makes more sense with this song.

So close to a perfect album! This is top-tier in their discography for me. It's crazy how "live" this sounds!

Royal and Desire is a standout. I'm a bit distracted by

Spoiler: show

the high-hat? shaker? maybe it's just this rip but it sounds way further to the front than any other element

but this is objectively one of their best songs. Cherokee fucking rules, too.

Highly recommend listening to this on anything but a laptop or phone.

[crashmosaic]

could someone pleaassseeee help me out with a skiff?

[taptherockies]

MFpotus wrote:

Cherokee is a revelation. Highlight of the album for me. Avey's delivery in the verses sounds different than anything he's done before

PREACH

[Jam]

Finally got to listen and I am ecstatic — can’t wait to hear it in hi q and pick apart every detail. For now..

Spoiler: show

Slayer - echoing the above on the autoharp. However, apart from the additions it is crazy how MUCH this and almost all of the tracks here sound almost exactly like the live versions. Testament to their live chops and ability to get that “live” sound while recording remotely

Car Keys - wow this is slinky and a lot darker than it sounded before, which is good. Love the CHz comparisons, saw one for Monkey Riches and that made me so happy because that’s the best song on that album.

SWE rip - fucking lol

Cherokee - I get it now!! This is just a really groovy one to grip onto for a while AT FIRST but the climax is really special. — especially love the fakeout for it, really adds to the buildup

Passer-By - Might wait for the real deal to listen to this again. Always one I was cooler on and while I love what they’ve done here (very spooky!!) I want to give it its best shot at love

We Go Back - always been my favorite skiffs cut, and this version doesn’t dissapoint. Juiced up all the way to the max. Wasn’t keen on the final section before but I can say I get it now.

Royal and Desire - WOW, maybe I would remix Josh’s vocals but this is just a glistening opal. Feels like being submerged at the bottom of a pool of water as you watch the light refract from the surface. Giving me shades of the Undersea EP by The Antlers, which is a favorite of mine

Cannot cannot cannot wait to listen more