A Sodden Theatrical Mess
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...The world has long awaited a concept album cataloging the day to day sadness so often experienced at Sloan Kettering. Indeed, if you're able to decipher all the plot details in this murky tale of loss/grief/anger/abuse, your copy is free. Unexpected and sincere, Hospice delivers some terrific moments-"Sylvia" comes to mind. That said, I failed to enjoy this album. Naturally, this comes as a function of my own cynicism/failed artistic ambition (please choose ONLY one). Worse still, I typically enjoy overwrought, self-indulgent music. Popular with 7 out of 10 moody boarding school students, Hospice is, first and foremost, excruciatingly boring. Seriously: If you find yourself nodding off to sleep unexpectedly, fear not, you're probably just listening to this Byzantine monstrosity. A sort of zombified Okkervil River, The Antlers easily win the "Super Ambitious Mildly Appealing Concept Album" category for 2009. Competition, however, was desperately thin.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (3)
wow. I LOVED Hospice. At first the falsetto threw me, but I gave it a solid couple of listens and fell hard. I found it powerful and honest.
But different strokes. :)
Agreed. I just felt like if he wasn't singing about cancer and Sloan and shiva, everyone would call them (him) an Arcade Fire knockoff. But, it's not terrible! On another day, I might have rated it higher and left out the "byzantine" part.
and on a different day I probably would have been firewalled by the flaws and indifferent to the emotion. I love music for that fluidity. :)
cheers!