Music
Review: Joseph Arthur, Our Shadows Will Remain
Joseph Arthur became somewhat of a critics’ darling following his breakthrough sophomore album Come To Where I’m From, his scratchy voice and painterly arrangements drawing comparisons to folk greats like Leonard Cohen. No longer under the watchful eye of Peter Gabriel, who signed Arthur to his Real World label (each of Arthur’s subsequent records has been released on a different label), the Akron, Ohio native packed up his Gramercy-area apartment in New York City and headed to New Orleans to record his fourth album Our Shadows Will Remain. From the explosive chorus, stacked vocals, and ghostly choir of “Can’t Exist” to the buzzing synth sounds, recycled ‘90s drum loop, and impassioned lyrics of the new age-y “I Am,” Arthur’s new songs are nothing short of breathtaking. But in case the title of the record hasn’t tipped you off, death figures prominently into the album’s 12 tracks. Arthur alternates between dark, penetrating folk-rock and more hopeful pop songs, but no matter how rapt he is in either venue (death or love), his emotional flip-flopping—for lack of a better word—lends songs like “Puppets” a certain lyrical ambiguity (“I cut myself/But no one came/And no one helped”), and that’s actually a good thing, in terms of accessibility. The exception is “Failed,” a depressing electronic dirge that, well, quite simply fails.
Label: Vector Release Date: October 3, 2004 Buy: Amazon
- Video5 days ago
Blu-ray Review: Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue on the Criterion Collection
- TV3 days ago
Review: WandaVision Occupies Its Own Quiet, Odd Space in the Marvel Universe
- Film4 days ago
Review: PG: Psycho Goreman Pays Tribute to ‘80s Schlock with a Surplus of Winks
- Film4 days ago
Review: In No Man’s Land, the Road to Allyship Is Paved with Good Intentions
- Film3 days ago
Review: Lili Horvát’s Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
- Film2 days ago
Review: Identifying Features Is a Haunting Lament for a Nation in a Holding Pattern
- Film3 days ago
Review: Supernova Is Crushed Under the Weight of Metaphor and Too Many Words
- Music2 days ago
Review: Steven Wilson’s The Future Bites Paints a Pop-Friendly Dystopia