Full Circle Digital Magazine August 2013 | Page 59

M U S I C • • M ANCHEST ER OR CHEST R A • S IMP L E MATH Watch Manchester Orchestra Manchester Orchestra discourse (“The song is sung three ways: Me to God, me to my wife, and God to me”) to earthshaking confession, a rock and roll bloodletting. “Bite your veins/ bleed your pain/ into me”. slips quietly (at first) into the aftermath, a beautiful yet angry recounting of a threehour argument brought on by what five years on the road can do to someone. “I love the last line, ‘If we end up alone, a plague on my head and a curse on our “Virgin” appears next, a four and a half home.’ This song is my realization that minute rock opera that looks back at the road that led the band to the present. “It’s a tri-fold story that parallels three ‘firsts’ “I cannot hide from the for me,” explains Hull. “The loss of my truth. It finds me.” virginity, the potential loss of relationship, and the realization that our band has and there’s a chance no one will ever love me will change after our first album. To all of like my wife Amy.” these issues, the same lyric applies: “It’s never gonna be the same.” It’s here that Second from last is “Apprehension”, a the heartfelt and elegant title track (and sobering, lyrical tour through the guilt, the first single) “Simple Math” arrives. “This blame, the questioning of who’s at fault. is a song about an affair, non-existent “Not only is the song about Amy and me, but unrealized. I cannot hide from the it’s also about several friends and family truth. It finds me. The chorus is myself members going through a miscarriage. questioning God. Had I convinced myself, It represents that even after all has been my family, my band that something is mended in one heavy situation, life will real when it isn’t?” “Leave It Alone” next continue to give you trials that require immense trust and faith in someone or something.” And ending it all is “Leaky Brakes”, which tiptoes quietly but confidently in to lead us back into the present. “The final breath is essentially to admit to everything I’ve ever done wrong,” says Hull of this final track. “The lyrics are so evolved compared to where we began. It’s all here and ready to be confronted. It’s up to me now.” Rarely does an album come along of such monumental honesty and vulnerability. The power of the music, the complexity of the songwriting, the opportunity to hear a band at the top of their game evolving before our very eyes – it all makes “Simple Math” so much more than a collection of songs, so much more than just a concept album. “Simple Math” is a deeply emotional experience. And, simply put, it is a masterwork. FULL CIRCLE DIGITAL MAGAZINE AUGUST 2013