A Black Mile to the Surface is the fifth studio album from Atlanta-based indie rock band Manchester Orchestra. It was released on July 29, 2017 through Loma Vista Recordings and the band's own independent label, Favorite Gentlemen. The album was produced by both the band and Catherine Marks, along with John Congleton, Johnathan Wilson and long-time collaborator Dan Hannon. It was recorded at the band's Favorite Gentlemen Studio in Atlanta, as well as at Echo Mountain in Asheville and Elmwood West in Dallas. It is the first Manchester Orchestra release to not feature keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Freeman, who left the band in 2016; leaving vocalist/guitarist Andy Hull as the only original member of the band. The album also features guest vocals from Nate Ruess, formerly of The Format and fun.; as well as Christian Zucconi of Grouplove.
Video A Black Mile to the Surface
Background
The album's title, as well as much of the imagery presented throughout is in reference to the town of Lead, SD, which is an old gold mining town that is now the site of The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). DUNE is a leading-edge, international experiment for neutrino science and proton decay studies. Discoveries over the past half-century have put neutrinos, the most abundant matter particles in the universe, in the spotlight for further research into several fundamental questions about the nature of matter and the evolution of the universe.
"A Black Mile to the Surface" is specifically a reference to this project taking place a mile underground. Imagery that relates the story of the album to this area is scattered throughout the album.
Maps A Black Mile to the Surface
Reception
Commercial performance
A Black Mile to the Surface was a moderate commercial success for the band. It debuted the album at number thirty-three on the main Billboard 200. The album also entered the Billboard Alternative Albums chart at number five as well as the Billboard Rock Albums chart at number seven. Overall, this marked a slight drop in success compared to its predecessors Simple Math (2011) and Cope (2014), which reached number twenty-one and number thirteen on the main Billboard respectively.
Critical reception
A Black Mile to the Surface was well received by contemporary critics upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 79, based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally positive reviews".
In a four-and-a-half stars out of five review for Alternative Press, Brian Shultz proclaimed "Here, Manchester Orchestra forge a newly lush, cinematic sound, unraveling detailed tales of characters with abstractly personal references. Layers upon layers, from acoustic guitars to programmed beats, create a gorgeous and restrained, immersive landscape, culminating in beautifully serene moments like "The Alien" and "The Sunshine." Adam Feibel of Exclaim! praised the album's "sonic story arc -- a story about love, marriage, fatherhood and life's constant way onward -- complete with an introduction, rising action, climax and falling action that finally wind down to a conclusive, satisfying end." PopMatters writer Chris Ingalls remarked that the album's sound "doesn't derive from the airtight punk influences of decades past; rather, there's an anthemic, widescreen feel to nearly every song ... inviting comparisons to altruistic, mid-period U2, or even Coldplay."
While the album mainly received positive reviews in most publications, there were also a number of critics less impressed by it. The A.V. Club writer Randall Colbourn was amongst the most vocal in their critique, claiming "Hull has said the band's initial intent was to "strip back" with this album, but they seem to have gone in the opposite direction--with all the layering, samples, and shout-alongs, A Black Mile To The Surface is bombastic to the point of exhaustion." Carl Purvis was also critical of the album in his review for No Ripcord, writing that "For a band where constructing songs into rocket-fueled crescendos is their biggest strength, too often does A Black Mile to the Surface fail to take advantage of any momentum it builds, often taking the wrong fork on an ascent to a splendid finale."
Track listing
All tracks written by Andy Hull.
Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.
Manchester Orchestra
- Andy Hull - guitar, producer, vocals
- Robert McDowell - engineer, guitar, keyboards, producer, vocals
- Andy Prince - bass
- Tim Very - drums
Technical
- Paul Blakemore - mastering
- John Congleton - additional production
- The Daniels - package design, photography
- Mike Dempsey - package design, photography
- Jim Georgeson - assistant engineer
- Dan Hannon - additional production
- Brian Manley - layout, package design
- Catherine Marks - engineer, producer, mixing
- Clay Miller - assistant engineer
- India Watne - A&R
- Ryan Whalley - A&R
- Jonathan Wilson - additional production
Charts
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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