Full Circle Digital Magazine August 2013 | Page 58

M U S I C • O NE NI G H T IN CAPE T OWN • MANCH E S TE R O R C H E S TR A

“Simple Math”
– Manchester Orchestra
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A Bio of a band and an album
by Paul Feig in the power of Hull’s voice and the fury of the band’s music in every track they’ve ever laid down, a power that wraps itself around you and demands your attention as Hull’s lyrics guide you through the world as he sees it. “I’ve always had a clear perception of right and wrong around me,” says Hull, “I’ve constantly questioned my beliefs, trying to find the truth.” wouldn’t showcase for the record labels,” says Hull of the band’s early days. “We wanted to play as many gigs as we could and we wanted the labels to come see us live, with our audience, in the clubs.” And the labels came. In 2007, their explosive first record “I’m Like a Virgin Losing A Child” became a critical favorite, the New York Times praising it as “Music to swoon to.” Two years later, “Mean Everything to Nothing” arrived and was heralded as one of the best records of 2009, with Absolute Punk raving: “Quick note to the rest of the albums coming out this year: The bar has just been set.” And now with the arrival of “Simple Math”, the bar has been set yet again. “The songs on this record are stories,” explains Hull, “but more directed and personal. In many ways, it can be called a dueling conversation between my wife, God and myself.” The opening track “Deer” sets a simmering and descriptive starting-point to Hull’s and our journey. It begins with an honest confession, carefully full of vivid detail. The lyric, “I’d go out in public if nobody ever asked,” perfectly sums up just how hard it is to lead a normal life once your pain becomes public. This is followed by the hard driving and rich “Mighty”, which Hull describes as sounding “like the Apocalypse. It’s my darkest hour, in a sense.” The third track, “Pensacola”, is a meditation on where the band has taken him and where he thinks he may be heading. “In this song, the innocence is leaving,” says Hull. The raw and masterful “April Fool” is next, an exquisite dynamite blast of big guitars, giant drums and soaring harmonies that, ironically, “was my first attempt at a love song on this album.” This moves directly into “Pale Black Eye”, a power-chord powder keg that builds from controlled

On April 1st, 2009, Andy Hull started to put his life back together. Manchester Orchestra’s new album, “Simple Math,” is about that experience. “It’s the reaction to my marital, physical, and mental failures. But for the first time, I’m not blaming anyone but myself,” Hull says. Produced fat, tactile and beautiful by Dan Hannon, “Simple Math” is Hull’s third full-length LP with the band, starting with the debut album “I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child” and then the follow-up “Mean Everything To Nothing.” Recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville and mixed by Joe Chiccarelli, the band kept the same studio set-up and production team intact from their second to third records. “Simple Math” is a concept album. As Roy Shuker defines in his book “Popular Music: The Key Concepts,” a concept album is a record “unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical.” “Simple Math” is indeed unified by all of these. The instrumentation is big, even in its smallest moments. The composition is emotional and complex, expertly weaving music with story. The narrative is a trip through a man’s brain, through his mistakes, regrets and realizations. And the lyrics, which take us firsthand through this life-changing experience, are poetic and raw, honest and passionate. But Manchester Orchestra has always been about truth; about passion. It’s why Alternative Press gave MO’s 2009 acclaimed “Mean Everything to Nothing” (which yielded the Top 10 Modern Rock hit “I’ve Got Friends”) a five-star lead review that called the album “a masterpiece of intricacy and honesty.” You can feel their passion

“I’ve always had a clear perception of right and wrong around me,” says Hull, “I’ve constantly questioned my beliefs, trying to find the truth.”
The son and grandson of southern ministers, Hull formed Manchester Orchestra in 2004 at the age of 17 with his lifelong friends (Jonathan Corley on bass, keyboardist Chris Freeman, guitarist Robert McDowell and drummer Tim Very) and used their music as a way to explore the issues that mattered most to him, issues of life, emotional vulnerability and the human condition. “I’ve always believed in God, but modernized Christianity can scare me. I’m a spiritual, but not a religious, person. And I like to use my music to explore how that faith stretches and challenges me to be a better man.” In 2005, before they were even old enough to vote, Manchester Orchestra headed out on the road and played over 200 shows, quickly building a legion of loyal fans that grows bigger and bigger with every show they play, and every album they release. “We

FULL CIRCLE DIGITAL MAGAZINE AUGUST 2013