Enemy Chorus
- The Earlies
- Band Name: The Earlies
- Record Label: Secretly Canadian
- Release Date: Jan 23, 2007
- Critic Score
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90A great lost album in the making.
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90It’s a rare album that is not only great on it’s first listen, but just as remarkable on it’s tenth.
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85A quantum leap in thought and execution from 2004 debut, These Were The Earlies.
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Where the songs were once floaty-light, 'The Enemy Chorus' is anchored in electronic menace and murky krautrock undercurrents that make it throb as much as shimmer. [20 Jan 2007, p.31]
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The Enemy Chorus' depth increases upon each listen. [#16, p.91]
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80The music on the album sounds muscular, more confident than before.
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80Like its predecessor, the most impressive aspect of The Enemy Chorus is not so much the breadth of its references as the tumescent, head-spinning harmonies. [Feb 2007, p.74]
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80Imagine David Axelrod producing The Beatles, and you get an idea of The Earlies' ambition and musicality. [Mar 2007, p.111]
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80Not as endearingly obviously pop or as chilled out as their debut, The Enemy Chorus takes some getting used to before it unfurls it pleasures.
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76Here, on their sophomore LP, these pen pals have dotted their Is and crossed their Ts flowing in and out of tracks that appropriately run the line of both personal and distant.
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The Enemy Chorus is a strangely formidable album, and in its own way, a daring one, too -- these songs of revenge, oppression, emptiness, and despair might puzzle some fans at first, but they certainly are impressive.
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Sublime.
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70The 11 songs on their second album have their own separate identity, with a diversity of colors and influences putting the Earlies in the company of such contemporaries as Mercury Rev, the Polyphonic Spree, and even, occasionally, Beck.
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67If their debut explored the space within, the Earlies' latest, The Enemy Chorus, peers into the void of the final frontier, with a similar kitchen-sink approach and more of the krautrock sprawl that characterized early singles like "Morning Wonder".
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So what if there are bits of Soft Bulletin and Dusk at Cubist Castle all over the record? At least they managed to choose the bits that fit together well.
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Sure, the horns and strings are nice, but they don't really add anything to the already too-busy song structures.
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While The Enemy Chorus may not launch itself into the night sky and explode like the great big sonic firework it wants be, there are enough bangs on display here to warrant taking it out for the occasional stroll.
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60It's an engaging enough amalgam of influences, but it would be a lot easier to love the Earlies' head music if it were more obviously coming from the heart.
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There's wandering to endure, but if you can find the hook, let it grab you.
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40There's just one heart-grabbing moment. [May 2007, p.120]
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Chalk this one up as a failed experiment, albeit one that ups enthusiasm for explorations to come.
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The CD is bound to attract some fans for its unwavering dedication to psychedelic textures, not to mention the number of bodies involved in the logistics of their live show, but this is energy that should have been expended in searching for better sheet music.
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20What had been a fascinating display of aural minimalism has morphed into a haphazard, ill-advised mess. [#75, p.96]
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EricC9
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bobc9
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IvanG10an amazing album, like love at first sight!!