'Humble' Members of Most Serene Republic Deliver New Album
The Most Serene Republic's Population has finally been leaked, and much like the band's EP, Phages, this 
new album is completely wonderful and could become one of the most listened to albums of a person. The orchestral flourishes of the tunes in the record is a reminder of Radiohead, an obvious influence for the band, considering Kid A revolutionized their music.
A person should be used to the fact that almost everything by this band sounds good. Population doesn't change this fact. In fact, this new album creates a whole new sound for the Most Serene Republic, given that the songs on this album are edgy and aggressive, and have more of a rock and roll feel.
It would be surprising if the first song off the album wasn't instrumental considering that everything of the band's starts off with a nice instrumental tune to get the listener ready and build up anticipation of what he/she is about to venture on. "Humble Peasants" was a great intro to the record; a lovely, nice sounding track that features whistling that actually reminded me of Andrew Bird. Of course, the whistling in this song doesn't match the whistling in Bird's "Simple X," found on Armchair Apocrypha.
"Compliance" works well with Adrian Jewett's voice. This track unfolds the unusual aggressiveness produced by the band. Next comes a song that makes you realize that Emma Ditchburn and Jewett's vocals are meant to be combined. They work amazingly in "The Men Who Live Upstairs," a song where Jewett's voice seems to be more experimental, a similarity to the song, "Tragedy of the Commons," found on a split vinyl released with the band, Headlights.
Ryan Lenssen, who provides the band with backup vocals and the keyboard commented about the addition of Ditchburn's voice on Phages, which was a new thing for the band back then. "On Phages, we experiments with Adrian and Emma's voices," he said. "We have a lot of experience listening to vocal duets and we thought 'We could do that, or invent a whole brand new thing .' So we decided to go with the latter and people either love it or hate it I'm sure but it is, at least, it's own thing." On Population, Ditchburn contributes a lot to the album just with her voice alone. "Present of the Future End" features a lot of her sophisticated voice.
There are actually a few instrumental songs on this album. I think "A Mix of Sun and Cloud" is one of the best. It starts out a bit bubbly but then continues to become more quieter and darker. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is pretty enjoyable since it's really good. I think it's one of the best songs on the album. "Why So Looking Back" includes a collision of Emma and Adrian's voices, that it's nearly beautiful to listen to. However, the focus is less on the vocals contributed by Adrian, but the spotlight seems to be on Emma this time.
"Sherry and Her Butterfly Net," the first song released by the band from this album was about the first most aggressive track people have probably listened to by this septet. "Agenbite of Inwit," another instrumental piece highlights on Lenssen's keyboards. Another good song on the album is the next one, "Career in Shaping Clay." It's catchy and great. In "Sollipsism Multiplication," the "na na na na na's" are almost sensational. This band, I finally realize, is almost too perfect.
However, all good things must come to an end, one will realize, when they look at their tracklist and see that the album is almost over. "Multiplication Desks" gets you ready for a closure of the album; a filtered track, which is something the Most Serene Republic almost always do on every collection of tunes they make. And finally, the ending track, "Neurasthenia," closes the album with a nice background filled with violins playing, and not so mellow sound compared to Phages' "Stay Ups" and Underwater Cinematographer's "Epilogue."
Populations is a fine record. I'm sure it'll sound completely brilliant is you actually use spare time to really listen to the album and have a full depth analyzation of each track and its lyrics. So I agree with Ryan: "I do honestly think that if you spend time with it, it reveals the truth with each listen. Every word and note is so placed to be the most biting it could be." A
[mp3] Battle Hymn of the Republic
new album is completely wonderful and could become one of the most listened to albums of a person. The orchestral flourishes of the tunes in the record is a reminder of Radiohead, an obvious influence for the band, considering Kid A revolutionized their music.
A person should be used to the fact that almost everything by this band sounds good. Population doesn't change this fact. In fact, this new album creates a whole new sound for the Most Serene Republic, given that the songs on this album are edgy and aggressive, and have more of a rock and roll feel.
It would be surprising if the first song off the album wasn't instrumental considering that everything of the band's starts off with a nice instrumental tune to get the listener ready and build up anticipation of what he/she is about to venture on. "Humble Peasants" was a great intro to the record; a lovely, nice sounding track that features whistling that actually reminded me of Andrew Bird. Of course, the whistling in this song doesn't match the whistling in Bird's "Simple X," found on Armchair Apocrypha.
"Compliance" works well with Adrian Jewett's voice. This track unfolds the unusual aggressiveness produced by the band. Next comes a song that makes you realize that Emma Ditchburn and Jewett's vocals are meant to be combined. They work amazingly in "The Men Who Live Upstairs," a song where Jewett's voice seems to be more experimental, a similarity to the song, "Tragedy of the Commons," found on a split vinyl released with the band, Headlights.
Ryan Lenssen, who provides the band with backup vocals and the keyboard commented about the addition of Ditchburn's voice on Phages, which was a new thing for the band back then. "On Phages, we experiments with Adrian and Emma's voices," he said. "We have a lot of experience listening to vocal duets and we thought 'We could do that, or invent a whole brand new thing .' So we decided to go with the latter and people either love it or hate it I'm sure but it is, at least, it's own thing." On Population, Ditchburn contributes a lot to the album just with her voice alone. "Present of the Future End" features a lot of her sophisticated voice.
There are actually a few instrumental songs on this album. I think "A Mix of Sun and Cloud" is one of the best. It starts out a bit bubbly but then continues to become more quieter and darker. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is pretty enjoyable since it's really good. I think it's one of the best songs on the album. "Why So Looking Back" includes a collision of Emma and Adrian's voices, that it's nearly beautiful to listen to. However, the focus is less on the vocals contributed by Adrian, but the spotlight seems to be on Emma this time.
"Sherry and Her Butterfly Net," the first song released by the band from this album was about the first most aggressive track people have probably listened to by this septet. "Agenbite of Inwit," another instrumental piece highlights on Lenssen's keyboards. Another good song on the album is the next one, "Career in Shaping Clay." It's catchy and great. In "Sollipsism Multiplication," the "na na na na na's" are almost sensational. This band, I finally realize, is almost too perfect.
However, all good things must come to an end, one will realize, when they look at their tracklist and see that the album is almost over. "Multiplication Desks" gets you ready for a closure of the album; a filtered track, which is something the Most Serene Republic almost always do on every collection of tunes they make. And finally, the ending track, "Neurasthenia," closes the album with a nice background filled with violins playing, and not so mellow sound compared to Phages' "Stay Ups" and Underwater Cinematographer's "Epilogue."
Populations is a fine record. I'm sure it'll sound completely brilliant is you actually use spare time to really listen to the album and have a full depth analyzation of each track and its lyrics. So I agree with Ryan: "I do honestly think that if you spend time with it, it reveals the truth with each listen. Every word and note is so placed to be the most biting it could be." A
[mp3] Battle Hymn of the Republic