It's indicative of Simple Math's overcooking: Most of the time, the band can't find a moment of empty space it doesn't fill with that extra guitar overdub, more string cues, or another intimacy-sapping vocal harmony. While the burly guitars on "Mighty" and "Pale Black Eye" flex some swamp-rock muscle, as a full outfit, Manchester Orchestra simply plod instead of groove, bogged down by Simple Math's favorite artificial flavor, a charmlessly and coldly recorded string section. It's that ponderous alt-rock framework that makes Simple Math such a drag even as the lyrics and production feel like they're racing to out-sensationalize each other. The problem lies in where Hull ends and Manchester Orchestra begins, and it's a space populated by lesser sons of the south, post-grunge good ol' boys like 3 Doors Down and Collective Soul- tellingly, the most immediately hooky riffs of the lot ("April Fool") lay mere inches down the fretboard from those of "Shine", and "Leave It Alone" flirts too briefly with a raw tenderness before diving headfirst into the sugary dross of truck-selling power ballad "The World That I Know". It's hard to imagine something like the title track, which uses infidelity as a jumping-off point to question the entire basis of human existence, even standing a chance without it. His belief in his own profundity is kind of endearing as Manchester Orchestra's driving force. Hull's got a thing for drunken fuck-ups who own up to their failures, though he's far more interested in using it for autobiography rather than storytelling. As a frontman, he does his peers proud- while his astringent, high lonesome warble immediately recalls the Jim James/Ben Bridwell dialect, it's flexible enough to handle both rebel yells and vulnerable self-flagellation. The singles off the album are, “Bed Head”, and, “Keel Timing”, with Hull stating that "Keel Timing" "serves as a prequel" to "Bed Head", and is "an isolated internal investigation about personal growth," the last single to be released was, "Telepath", with Isaac Deitz, and describing it "the ebb and flow of lifelong commitment to another person.But hell, if there's any Conor Oberst acolyte capable of making The Merrimack to Titus Andronicus' The Monitor, it's Hull. The Million Masks of God, debuted at number 31 on the Billboard 200, number 5 on the Top Rock Albums, number 3 on the Top Alternative Albums, and number 4 on the Independent Albums charts. The band has performed at major music festivals such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Coachella, Riot Fest, Shaky Knees Music Festival, Firefly Music Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Austin City Limits Music Festival and more, including their own hosted and curated annual festival, The Stuffing, held on the day before Thanksgiving in Atlanta, GA. They have released several extended plays and six studio albums: I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, in 2006, Mean Everything to Nothing, in 2009, Simple Math, in 2011, Cope, in 2014, A Black Mile to the Surface in 2017 and their latest album, The Million Masks of God came out on February 18, 2021. Indie-rock band Manchester Orchestra are from Atlanta and is composed of rhythm guitarist-singer-songwriter Andy Hull, lead guitarist Robert McDowell, bassist Andy Prince and drummer Tim Very.
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