I think in isolation it's fun but it just feels so inappropriately placed to me. But I also have strong feelings about The Spark because the heavier (thematically) songs accompanied me through a very rough period in 2017. It's a very time-capsule album for me. It's the Good Goodbye of The Spark, if you will. I just want their songwriting and production to get quirky again. It feels like they just present themselves visually as quirky now but the actual content is just like everyone else's in the similar orbits.
The Good Goodbye of The Spark is a fair one ^^ Yeah, I think I'm already warming up to the LYS. Really diggin Lose Your Self, the track. Intro synth very reminescent (identical?) of TTTS / Common Dreads era, while the rest of the track reminds me a bit of THE GREAT UNKNOWN / T.I.N.A from NIT&EIP, with a touch of Prodigy / 90's electro flavor. Breakdown in Find Out The Hard Way… is simple but hit hards. Dead in The Water hook is neat. Demons and It's Ok execute the electro pop stuff pretty well. Shipwrecked! rips. The 3 Spaceship Earth are all cool. The guitar in the first one brings me back. Second one, some epic thingy going on. Third one, nice closure. I think my favorite will stay The Flick Of A Switch I. , love the atmosphere, the tension, and the drop. (Damn, those notes are a mess, sorry for that )
I like "Shipwrecked!" best I think. So far. I also like the "Spaceship Earth" trilogy, "Dead in the Water", and "i can't keep my hands clean" a lot. Everything else is somewhere in the middle. Both "demons" and "it's OK" are good and catchy but not really standouts for me. Also interesting that they chose the title "Spaceship Earth"...when I was big on this band 10 years ago I was also huge on theme park design. And one of my favorites was the original 80s to 90s vision of EPCOT Center in Orlando...which had (and still has) a focal point attraction called Spaceship Earth celebrating the evolution of human communities and communications. Not far off from the central idea of this record actually. I wonder if they came up with the name independently.
I had to check pictures from that EPCOT Center, looks pretty cool!! And somehow fits very well with some of the imagery this band has had, pretty nice connection in there! Come on @ScatterMatter @Michele we need your reviews too
Hopefully you looked at pre-2000s stuff because it's just Disney IP drivel these days. It had ambitions at one point in time.
I’m deeply in line with everything that is being said on this album, and it sounds great, buuuuut… For now, I think I’m a little disappointed as an avid bridge and song-evolution enjoyer. I don’t particularly love the payoff for any of these songs. The two that immediately come to mind are “The Flip of a Switch” and into “i can’t keep my hands clean”. Both’s energy and style immediately excited me just to have very minimal or no switch up. I get one might be more of an interlude but it was an intensity switch up away from being a pretty enjoyable, messy punk song (for me). I’m always happy to get more material from ES that encapsulates a very unique electric rad potential of humanity and the entire scope of its precarious nature, though. Not a single 10/10 here for me, but a lot of 8s I’ll definitely be adding to my political playlists.
Also, btw, yes. Same synth you hear at the end of Take to the Skies, the beginning of Common Dreads, the beginning of "System..." on A Flash Flood of Colour, and "Reprise 3" off Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible. Endlessly reused!
---- Going on a tangent for a sec ---- Though this one had a great concept, albeit it never came into fruition as such. This was also an interesting read, regarding how reality deviated from the original purpose of it -> https://thedisneyparkbench.com/dpb-blog/an-epcot-that-never-was-and-always-will-be-part-1/ And with this one, I understood what you meant with ambition : https://progresscityusa.com/2010/04/20/epcot-origins-1977-master-plan-5/ ----------------- End of the tangent (Well the picture fit with ES somewhat ^^' )------------ Regarding the opening synth of the record : oh boy, I knew it was very familiar, but not to this extent All this made me realize the band has a live show planned in Brussels on 10th November. I should be in Finland at that point.... maybe that's a good excuse for a back&forth visit
Man, what a surprise. I haven't listened to it properly yet since I was busy this weekend and was at a show yesterday. Just some bits and pieces, but I absolutely love this band since TTS in 2007 so it should be pretty good. So far they haven't released anything I didn't like so we will see.
If i find the time to listen to the album a few times more i will try to give a review on the next weekend
SHIPWRECKED, WILL WE EVER GET BACK ALIVE I finally realized what the intro to Spaceship Earth I reminds me of - Quelle Surprise! Maybe both We Can Breathe in Space and Quelle Surprise together throughout. But not a retread at all. Just feels parallel to those two! All Eyes on the Saint maybe too...I'm a fan. I've given the album 12 or so listens and my favorites are: Find Out the Hard Way... The Flick of a Switch I. Shipwrecked! Spaceship Earth I-III Honorable mentions to "i can't keep my hands clean" and "it's OK" as well. Not my top ones but I like both of those a lot too. The only ones I'm really meh on are the title track and "demons". Both of those have a lot of what I didn't like about the past two albums. The riffage toward the end of "LOSE YOUR SELF" kills it for me.
Yup "Lose Your Self", the song, definitely sounds a lot like some stuff on NIT&EIP, at least in my mind. Man I really wish I had a physical copy of Quelle Surprise. A Flash Flood of Colour had great B-Sides. Heck, the band should do a compilation of their B-Sides, one-off singles, and collab's overtime, many killer tunes I lost track off.
Double Post for The sake of their video for "Find Out the Hard Way..." Very mininalistic. Rou's expression at the very beginning is quite meme worthy lol Definitely should not have cut off the end imo, but well, guess that's the unfamous come-back of the radio-edit.
So, i gave it another spin and i really love it so far. Lose Your Self is a really great start into the album and gives a good introduction in what will come. Find Out The Hard Way is such a cool vibe and thew outro just hits perfect. And Dead In The Water is just the perfect mix of heavyness and melody. The Flick Of A Switch I. is the typically Shikary craziness. Love it! Its OK is a nice little "break" in between. Shipwrecked! is also such a vibe. That song needs to get played live! And The Spaceship Earth triology at the end just ends the album in such an hamonic way. So yeah, all in all i am really in love with this record so far.
Thoughts after sitting with the album for a bit. The boys from St. Albans did a number on me with this album. I have listened to it a lot since it released. Perfect album for me right now. It's just like how The Spark was suited to that time of my life. I don't think it's perfect but the songs I love are so good that it overshadows what gripes I have. Reading Rou's Kerrang interview also opened up a lot of the intention with this album. And made me think WOW because that's actually a real photo of Rou suspended in an actual LED light beam not digital dressing. Per song: LOSE YOUR SELF: Solid album opener that sets the tone but not really a standout to me. Opening with the TTTS/CD/System strings and then turning them into programming is a cool touch. Find Out the Hard Way...: Love this one. Easy second to Shipwrecked for the poppier numbers on the album. Very on-point theme and "all my friends have been monetized" simultaneously makes me laugh and feel sadness in my soul. Dead in the Water: Ambivalent on this one. It's good but it feels a bit like it's more of the same they've been doing for a few years. demons: I constantly flip on this one. It's catchy and all but it feels the least interesting underneath the pop skin. But the theme and the multiple (as I interpreted) references to generational trauma still spoke to me. The Flick of a Switch I.: Absolute banger. Absolutely sick. Feels almost a bit like a throwback to AFFOC era wobble-synth-over-rock influence. And the nod to the Prodigy going into the next track is a fun wink. i can't keep my hands clean: I would love an entire album of this. So fun and dirty. Too short but in the best way. it's OK: This one had to grow on me a little but I really like it now. Lyrics really hit home even if it's typical Rou on-the-nose style haha. I love the bridge part with the back and forth between Chris and Rou. The Flick of a Switch II.: Having the bookends is quite Havoc A/B reminiscent, especially in the way they develop. Perfect way to double-dip since part one was so fun. Takes the first part and dials it up even more. Shipwrecked!: My standout track. Danceable, high-energy, really fun, but still with depth and some lovely backing vocals from Chris - whose vocals I have a very soft spot for. I cannot wait to see them play it live (I don't see a way they won't). Spaceship Earth (I. Avec Abandon): This three-parter is like a love letter to old-school Shikari. The nerdy, cosmic anthemic qualities feel like they were lifted right out of 2008-2011. Not to even speak of the production (which I've already mentioned reminding me of several songs from that period). This first part would literally fit right in as a B-side to We Can Breathe in Space. Spaceship Earth (II. Angosciosco): The transition to guitar then to that synth for that main motif on the back half is so good. It gets me every single time. Spaceship Earth (III. Maestoso): I was a very big fan when Elegy for Extinction came with Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible. So imagine my excitement hearing that main theme that developed in movement two transitioning into orchestra. And then the outro section...so good. What a way to cap it off. Goosebumps the first time I listened. I could listen to the run from The Flick of a Switch I through end many times over. Shipwrecked is an absolute banger and has been a ghost in my eardrums for a week now, and Spaceship Earth is like a perfect time vortex to my favorite period of the band. What a whirlwind. I on a whim decide to listen to them more than I have in nearly a decade and they drop an album on me!