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Mar 23, 2018With their third LP, New Material, they dive into it headlong, getting closer to Munro’s stated goal than ever before.
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May 9, 2018For an album that is only 36 minutes in length, Preoccupations manage to cram in a large amount of ideas, inspirations and ambitions.
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Mar 23, 2018Another evolution in the way Preoccupations bring poetic soulfulness to post-punk, New Material lives up to its name--it's not just another batch of songs, it's a fresh approach that feels like a breakthrough.
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Mar 23, 2018In a world of easy sound bites and shallow narratives New Material has withdrawn from the spectacle to pursue a whole new goal--to teach you something about yourself.
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Mar 22, 2018While certain songs definitively outshine others, they all contain their own character and energy resulting in something not only haunting and enigmatic, but something rather stunning.
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Mar 22, 2018New Material works as an excellent signpost of where the group has been and where it’s headed.
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Mar 22, 2018The band’s defeatism takes on a new tenor: battle-worn, sincere, and not quite so antagonistic. That may mean that New Material lacks the punch of their feisty debut, but it also lends these songs a soothing quality.
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May 9, 2018As it is, New Material is now their fourth release. It may be the most consistent of the lot, but it isn’t the strongest. That accolade, for now, goes to their previous record purely because of the variety of textures and tones. But it’s exciting to see what comes next.
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Apr 23, 2018Is it as epic as say, the swell of songs like "Continental Shift"? No, but while there's work to be done still, it's still a solid step forward.
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Apr 18, 2018Ultimately, New Material is another strong LP from a watertight band, and a great access point for a listener overwhelmed by the oppressive brutishness of their previous LPs.
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Apr 5, 2018Nonetheless, if you sense that Preoccupations have yet to nail a defining sound, then it’s part of their appeal that they may in fact never be defined by a sound. New Material hits the spot more often than not.
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Mar 26, 2018New Material is a natural progression of what Preoccupations have done and continue to do better than just about anyone else at the moment. Their command of the genre's signifiers and traditions remains unparalleled; they've just added a more personal touch to the process.
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Mar 26, 2018By the end of it, it’s very clear that this is a deadly serious record--not a parody, not even an homage, but a largely enjoyable marriage of the stodge with the airy and the old with the new which manages to retain an impressive sense of cohesiveness and consistency.
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UncutMar 22, 2018Every song on New Material has a one-word title that captures a mood--"Disarray," "Decompose," "Doubt" are typical--while tunes like "Manipulation" and "Solace" have a propulsive relentless but also melodic ease that are something like a funkier War On Drugs. [Apr 2018, p.32]
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Mar 23, 2018New Material is sure to divide fans down the middle, leaving them questioning Preoccupations’ intent as, for perhaps the first time, the band is more keen on playing things close to the chest.
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Apr 2, 2018New Material's subjects are too broad for incisive commentary, and its themes of disenfranchisement and helplessness are played too straight for dark comedy. Ultimately, it's about as expressive as those one-word titles would suggest.
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Mar 23, 2018None of the tracks on New Material could fit any such textbook definition of "bad". It’s stylistically inconsistent and at times bafflingly chaotic, but each track has a certain quality that defines Preoccupations as a willingly evolutionary band.
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Q MagazineMar 22, 2018The whole thing might be like travelling back to a nightclub in Leeds in 1983 but it's executed with a gloomy elan that allows you to forgive its occasional silliness. [May 2018, p.112]
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Mar 23, 2018New Material is an album that achieves a lot, but accepts failure as an option and takes it with a begrudging grace. So much can be made out of the stories told in the album's songs, but with the general lack of ideas, the role of the doomsayer is running its course for Preoccupations.
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Mar 26, 2018New Material is certainly not more than the sum of its parts, which causes problems for a band that thrives on the whole, rather than moments of individual magic. It leaves much of New Material ambling by.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 16 out of 17
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Mixed: 1 out of 17
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Negative: 0 out of 17
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May 19, 2018
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Mar 23, 2018