[dio]

He must mean like low case t tenors. Like just ..singers.

[zilgen]

the melody of neurons is so good too, i think that sound is actually a guitar not a synth, the tone almost reminds me of deerhoof. might be my favorite lyrics. Swallower takes it / easy going down. i do love when he references the body in his songs. neurons! neurons!

The record came in the mail today (with lyrics) and I'm finishing of my second spin. I have really enjoyed this album. sounds better on my stereo than in my car on the way home from work. I definitely see it as a continuation of the mothlight / birds sound. the production reminds me a little of the tickley feather record dave and josh recorded, but also of birds

[zilgen]

and actually the piano on invisible darlings reminds me a lot of I'm your eagle kisser. can you tell i just started it over again?

[blindmowing]

lyrics from apple music

Invisible Darlings
https://ibb.co/LSpdwGn

Lips at Night
https://ibb.co/hm6vyX4

The Musical
https://ibb.co/PZLZFs6

Hey Bog
https://ibb.co/fdDmMsT

Sweepers Grin
https://ibb.co/yRdgwLz

Neurons
https://ibb.co/2v5fxG5

Cloud Stop Rest Start
https://ibb.co/njvqxTW

[rohcti]

Yusssss thank you

Neurons is his Take Pills

[zilgen]

I just feel like the vocal is a little low on neurons, but it might grow on me

[zilgen]

Dusty wrote:

2nd listen. Jesus Christ sweepers is good

is sweeping me away

[rohcti]

wrote:

There was once a time when I fished with my Dad who could watch the news and sleep all day. But what good could the news do when you're always sleeping? Sweeping up another grey.

[BoomCheese]

Happy to be carefree. Do tell

Earworm heaven

[andthephantom]

This album is masterfully sequenced. Each transition makes sense and isn’t jarring, but the whole album travels so far sonically.

[nothingmaster]

thanks for sharing the lyrics. sweepers is so wonderful

[cody]

cloud stop rest start is tripping at a funeral
I wish sweeper's grin evolved into something else by the end but it's still great to get lost inside of. "happy to be carefree" was my earworm for the day
not sure if this is a hot take but

Spoiler: show

the album would be 7% more satisfying with hey bog as the opener

[Stan]

Definitive review from three listens: Echoes of the past and past.

First half is very familiar, feels Cows/Birds-adjacent or if Slasher was a solo project. That's not a criticism and if you like that style of songwriting, great. Here's more of the same thing, as Dave himself acknowledged in that interview. These songs concisely summarise Slasher, Eucalyptus, Meeting of the Waters, with elements of Cows and Birds.

Hey Bog is a great transitional centerpiece. Still sounds very Cows/Birds but more Mothlight, which is a bonus. I like the darker mood and more emotive vocals. It does remind me of the wonderful days when AC wrote around a beautiful guitar tone and some simple chords and let the whole thing breathe and unfurl.

Sleeper's Grin is very similar in form and intent and a great companion piece. Again, it feels like a more successful attempt at capturing the Mothlight sound than Cows/Birds managed. It reminds me of the original vastly superior version of Saturdays in tone, darker but cathartic. While this again evokes a previous sound and doesn't feel particularly progressive, I'm glad he's returned to this style of songwriting because I find it more emotionally involving.

Neurons sounds like a CHz B-side. Great for fans of that album.

Clouds sounds quite jarring but slightly intriguing, reminds me of when AC songs seemed weird and I needed to sit with them for a bit. Seems tuneless but many of their best songs seemed that way at first. I like the flute bit at the end, wish that had been incorporated earlier. I don't listen to Radiohead so I can't comment on the comparison. I'd be keen to hear him develop this synthy sound in future, albeit it also sounds like Down There solo live shows.

In summary a great double A-side single and some good stuff for 2010s fans.

[bullseye]

I give this album a 7/7.

[Hellomark]

Thanks for posting the lyrics, I definitely misheard a few lines, especially in Cloud Stop. Sweeper's lyrics are really good.

[Fovrodi]

CSRS feels like a Deakin song, down to the cadence

[Fovrodi]

CSRS feels like a Deakin song, down to the cadence

[Fovrodi]

down to the cadence

[unrecordednight]

down to the cadence

[tay's tee games]

DOWN


Down


Down


down to the cadence

[Hellomark]

dio wrote:

He must mean like low case t tenors. Like just ..singers.

See I think he's referring to the current day Tenors, and I think it totally works because it feels like he's deliberately picking this corny, watered down and commercialized group to denote one far end of the music making spectrum, with the other side being "in the grass and singing", just doing it for yourself and being unattached from the business side. AC obviously have their toes dipped in both ends, and the song feels like this very positive acceptance of every type of music making one could engage in.

Also I've been digging Sweeper's Grin a lot more after reading the lyrics. Definitely a grower for me.

[Avey Tane]

[alvinrowx]

Mr_Neffets wrote:

Just gave it the first full listen and this might become my favorite solo Avey record. Surprised how many people here don't like the Musical.

I need a few more listens, but this is a pleasant surprise. I think Avey's solo records are the most hit or miss for me, but this one might end up being my favorite.

I love the Musical's melody. I find it better than Hey Bog, which meanders a bit too much, to me. Lips at night, Sweeper's grin and Could stop are beautiful too.

Yes, I already find the album much better than COHP, which wasn't really memorable, imo. Probably my favorite one just after Down There. As individual songs, I would say he still hasn't topped Season High/Melody Unfair/Ms. Secret, though. I would die for an entire album in the same vibe of these 3 songs.

[organic cat]

I wish I hadn't listened to the singles, I kinda get what Avey means now by them being spoilers in a sense. Listening to the new tracks after being familiar with the singles made the other tracks blend in a bit too much on my first listen and left very little impression at me.
Though, being able to take in the entire album as an homogeneous entity now, it feels like a very interesting experience that moves all over the place musically, while still having Avey's touch all over it.
I can understand why those singles were chosen as they're the more accessible, but they sound too awkward in an isolated context in hindsight. Learned my lesson!

My favorites (no order) are probably darlings, musical, bog, neurons, and sweeper.

[rohcti]

organic cat wrote:

I wish I hadn't listened to the singles, I kinda get what Avey means now by them being spoilers in a sense. Listening to the new tracks after being familiar with the singles made the other tracks blend in a bit too much on my first listen and left very little impression at me.

He said that? Haha nice. I feel kinda the same way about the singles, I wish I had been able to resist but at least I waited for Darlings.

Oh, nice post Stan, enjoyed reading that

[Stories and Games]

i think the musical is a quite solid pop song and i manage to enjoy it even though i don't dig the sloppy aesthetic or the kinda bad lyrics. then hey bog is alright, sweeper's grin probably the strongest thing here, and neurons is still pretty alright even if i think it's pretty aesthetically incoherent.

idk, the whole thing has got a sort of inessential quality that a lot of avey solo records have, but i think this one more so than all the others. i think i might just be at a tipping point tbh, i don't really like the way avey sings in studio nowadays, the production and performances feel kinda cheap and ramshackle, and i don't dig the new earnest mellow stoner lyrical style. these are all things that bothered me to some extent with time skiffs, and now they're in unobstructed full force on 7s. there're still moments where the music is genuinely gripping or hypnotizing on some level, but there's too much to get past, i feel like i'm scrounging.

[organic cat]

rohcti wrote:

organic cat wrote:

I wish I hadn't listened to the singles, I kinda get what Avey means now by them being spoilers in a sense. Listening to the new tracks after being familiar with the singles made the other tracks blend in a bit too much on my first listen and left very little impression at me.

He said that? Haha nice. I feel kinda the same way about the singles, I wish I had been able to resist but at least I waited for Darlings.

Oh, nice post Stan, enjoyed reading that

Yeah, he had mentioned this sentiment in the recent AMA; I don't think it's the first time he's said this though.

Avey from 2023 reddit AMA wrote:

And no i'm still not that in line with the "Singles" way of releasing music but i understand it to be a useful way of letting people know i have a record coming out so im cool with it. Deep down for me though theres always the spoiler alert light going off when we participate. I'm much more of a listen to the whole record person.

[andthephantom]

CSRS gives me serious Elliott Smith vibes

[opposite field]

This is sounding good to me, I keep throwing it on and just letting it play through picking out some new things each time. The only dud for me is lips at night, less exciting to me than the new sounds I guess.

[dio]

Listen to Sweepers in a steam/sauna. (But NOT Hey Bog, too scary)

[hypo's]

lol I completely forgot abt this until 5 minutes ago

just bought it!

[rohcti]

Lips at Night is like Aveys take on the Buoys formula. Great song

[unrecordednight]

took me a while to get into the record but after leaving it on repeat all day at work yesterday i started to really enjoy it. i think the non-single tracks are all the best ones. i've always felt like the idea of enjoying the singles differently in the context of the album is a silly concept bc a song is just a song in and of itself, but experientially they really do feel differently in the context of listening to the full album front to back

[nothingmaster]

My appreciation of Cloud Stop skyrocketed after reading the lyrics. The vocal melody is really great too. It's a very stripped down, unnerving song that has a harrowing depth to it (did you holler at the earth? I mean come on). I hear shades of Mount Eerie/Microphones in the prechorus about the cloud dream. In the verse he reminds me of some real sad Grandaddy shit

The super upfront lyrics of The Musical work as a nice entry point into the more inscrutable Hey Bog half of the album, which features a lot of evocative and surreal imagery.

[unrecordednight]

human and hectic human and hectic

[Hellomark]

Cloud Stop is such a lonely sounding song, both lyrically and sonically. The synths feel like surveying this barren wasteland. Quite a lot of this album makes sense when you view it as his response to pandemic isolation.

[speen]

i love the whole record, last 3 songs especially. its got a really interesting arc. Awesome production. seems like he went real hard on the lyrics this time

[Saferintheflowers]

A bunch of Down There songs go so well together with these new songs and I'm praying he plays something from Down There on the tour!! Oliver Twist would be a dream come true to see live. I had just missed getting into AC when he did the Chicago show in 2011 and that set list winds up being some of my favorite work of his! Like slow words, song for Jerome n photographs awhh to die for I'd he ever releases that fucking recording of the live set.

Also someone was wondering what that piano in Invisible Darlings reminded them of and to me it reminds me of the solo song he did called I'm your eagle kisser..like that ending section of it specifically

Anyhow I love 7s! Like with cows, since I knew the songs already from the live shows and was already on love with them ..but with 7s, just like when I was first getting into AC, i had to listen to each song a bunch of times to start getting them and since then I've fell madly in love with Lips at Night, sweepers grin, invisible darlings and maybe my fav of them all Hey Bog

[Sputnik Monroe]

I think Invisible Darlings and Hey Bog are my favorite from the album. Invisible Darlings is just such a pretty and sweetly tinged song. It is incredibly uplifting and I cried a bit when I listened while reading the lyrics. I needed that encouragement. Also, that bright sweet piano lick is just so enjoyable, and all of the other sounds and vocal effects he uses in his palette for the song are really interesting. When I first listened to hey bog it started out pretty weak for me, but then it just explodes emphatically into such a euphoric romp. I don't know how he makes such a swampy murky-sounding song so bright and euphoric at the same time. It is like floating down some murky southern bayou on a big paddle steamer boat while some Lousiana Cajun jug band performs gayly just as the sun sneaks out.

I really like Sweepers Grin as well. There is something apocalyptically melancholic about how it sounds. The banging repetitive drum beats sound like someone trying to manically run from something despite knowing that it is futile.The parts he sings "Happy to be carefree. Do tell? Just round the bend so shall it be. Happy to be, where are the bells? Happy to be carefree. Do tell? Reapers at end so shall it be. Maybe we flee to the bells," is so haunting and effective it makes me feel a kind of nebulous dread. This song is like visiting friends, but visiting friends is the stoned relaxed version, whereas sweepers is frantic, stark, and of manic disquietude.

Lips at night is another sweet little bright tune with Avey's signature endearing poetic lyrical sappiness that comes with a lot of his songs regarding love and intimacy. Love the samba guitar, the simple inflections, and the back-and-forth chant effects of his vocals.

I love the distorted glee on Neurons. It has that crunchy distorted guitar with some blown-out beats, but the rest of the sounds are very crisp and clear. All in all, it is a very fun song with all the sort of marching band percussion with the claps and Tamborine.

Cloud stop rest start is very discordant and seeped with a kind of depression. Kinda feels like a song fighting for clarity, with the moments where he really belts out his lines "did you holler at the earth" almost like he is trying to command something, to climb out of that depression and reach for a sort of clarity. The song sounds something new for Avey and it is effective in my opinion with its overall atmosphere and vibe.

The Musical for me is my least favorite. Something about it doesn't really hit for me. It feels really contrived, like Avey Tare trying to write and Avey Tare song. There are some interesting parts sonically, and it has been growing on me a bit, but overall, I go back to it the least.

I overall really like this album. I was a big fan of Cows and Birds and even though it captures some of the things from those albums, especially with Birds, I think it is different enough to be interesting and a worthwhile record in his discography.

[zilgen]

Cloud Stop Rest Start is so unsettling, the synth reminds me a little bit of Abyss Song