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Thin Lear — Wooden Cave (24th July, 2020)

USA FLAG                                               Thin Lear — Wooden Cave (24th July, 2020)  Thin Lear — Wooden Cave (24th July, 2020)■  Bezchybně vytvořená óda pro samotáře, smrt a odcizení. Album Wooden Cave, napsané pro outsidery, jak to slyšíme v úvodní písni Netta, vyzařuje zvukovou záři, vracející se do studiové posedlosti 70. let, známých a překvapivých ve stejné míře, jako tvář ze snu. Každý sen má svoji tvář. Tvář je úzce spojena s vyjadřováním emocí. Hledíme~li člověku do tváře, dešifrujeme emoce, které s ním hýbou. Také sen vyjadřuje základní emocionální naladění... — emoční náboj totiž utváří podobu snu. Matt Longo není ve studiu sám. Pomáhá mu 6~členná smyčcová sekce a dalích 13 instrumentalistů. 
■  Matt říká: „Proces psaní a nahrávání byl trochu vyčerpávající, ale já bych to neměnil. Když dokončím album, musím mít pocit, že už nikdy nebudu nic dělat. Vytvoření záznamu je jako důkladné vyčištění vaší mysli.“
■  Ještě se vrátím k písni „Death in a Field“: Překrásná klavírní balada doplněná shakerem. Vede skrze úžasný příběh a hlasité hučení Thin Lear. „Death in a Field“ je záhadný cross mezi Belle a Sebastian, Wilco a Ben Foldsem, zde se představoví nevinné texty se surovou vintage~indie~rockovým cítěním. Thin Lear roztaví spontánní elektřinu z obývacího pokoje s pečlivě promyšlenou a nezkrotnou produkcí tak, jak by to udělal jen mistr svého řemesla. Nezapomeňte si vyslechnout alespoň tento singl od okouzlujícího Thin Leara, který na světlo vytáhl své vlivy: Astral Weeks, Harryho Nilssona a Shuggie Otise, pak toho určitě nebudete litovat.  
Location: Long Island, Queens, New York, NY
Album release: 24th July, 2020 
Record Label: EggHunt Records
Duration:     36:17
Tracks:
01. Netta   4:16 
02. Wooden Cave   3:14 
03. A Simple Phrase   3:00 
04. The Guesthouse   2:44 
05. Death in a Field   3:45 
06. I Thought I Was Alone   2:28 
07. Maniacs   3:02 
08. Different Tune   2:29 
09. Behold You Now   3:55 
10. ‘93 Heap   4:22 
11. Your Family   3:02
Personnel:
Matt Longo: vocals, guitars
Aady Pandit: guitars
Yaniv Taubenhouse: piano, organ, mellotron
Sam Minaie: upright bass
Jerad Lippi: drums
Dan Fagen: saxophone
John Raymond: trumpet & flugelhorn
Paul Longo: additional guitars
Andy Roninson: piano, rhodes, and wurlitzer
Brad Koegel: drums
Yonatan Levy: bass
Brian Sanders: cello
Leonor Falcon: violin
Tomoku Omura: violin
Allyson Clare: viola
Jonny Lam: pedal steel
James Leddy: violin
John Velsor: additional guitars
Jay Rodriguez: saxophone
Credits:
■  All songs written by Matt Longo, except Death in a Field and Behold You Now (written by Matt Longo and Paul Longo)
Emely Grisanty: photo
Stuart Hardie: art direction
■  Produced and Mixed by Aady Pandit and Matt Longo
■  Recorded at The Underground Lair in Astoria, Queens
■  Mastered by Joe Lambert
■  Additional Engineering by Carlos Fonseca and Nolan Thies
■  Special thanks to Michael, Lori, Paul, Carlos, Tom, Nate, Brian, Adam, and William, Ben, Dolly, and Iris.
PRESS:
■  “Wooden Cave — easily one of the best, if not the best album of this horrifying year so far — does what so many of the best albums do. It creates a unique artistic statement that’s a pleasure to hear from start to finish but includes plenty of ugly truths and harsh realities. Matt Longo isn’t immune to the horrors of the world, but he knows how to wrap them up in gorgeous, lush, sophisticated songs.” — Chris Ingalls, PopMatters (9/10)
■  “That Thin Lear album is amazing.” — Robin Hilton, NPR Music
■  “A warm, rich, and intimate chamber~pop album that revolves around life, love, death, and dreams.” — The Big Takeover
■  “Thin Lear is extremely thoughtful in its combining of the five elements of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone color, and form. At once hard to describe, but easy to grab onto…immensely satisfying.” — American Songwriter  
■  “Beautifully elegant…delicate & hypnotic.” — GoldFlakePaint
■  “His voice washes over you like a lullaby.” — The Wild Honey Pie
■  “An enigmatic cross between Belle and Sebastian and Wilco…Thin Lear melds the spontaneous electricity of a live room with the meticulousness of careful, deliberate production in a way only a master of his craft would.” — Earmilk 
■  “The recordings are rich with unique musical nuance, conjuring up the insular worlds of Astral Weeks~era Van Morrison, Tim Buckley, and Shuggie Otis.” — The Vinyl District  Review
CHRIS INGALLS ⌊ 21 Jul 2020 ⌋ Score: 9
↔  If you’re looking for a suitable blueprint for Wooden Cave, the latest album from Thin Lear, a good starting point is the single “Maniacs”. The uptempo power~pop rolls along on a sophisticated yet accessible arrangement, exquisite strings adding just the right amount of chamber~pop sensibility. The lyrics, however, are disarmingly chilling and describe a person being seduced into a dangerous cult. “If you’re hooked on a fishing rod / Throwing out hands to God / He won’t take you back again / That’s all right.” Leading into the chorus is an even more seductive line: “Don’t be afraid of new ideas…” As if to drive home the danger, an unhinged saxophone solo breaks in towards the end of the song.
↔  “Maniacs” is one of 11 songs on the new album by Long Island~raised, Queens~based singer~songwriter Matt Longo, recording once again under the moniker Thin Lear (he also released a handful of albums under his name from 2011 to 2013). The songs on Wooden Cave seem particularly drawn to outcasts, eccentrics, and those beset by difficult circumstances. Obvious influences include Leonard Cohen, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, and — particularly from a vocal standpoint — Paul Heaton of the Housemartins and the Beautiful South. With that in mind, Longo — in his mid~30s — comes off as an old soul, which doesn’t mean he eschews contemporary musical styles or themes. Instead, he simply seems particularly drawn to that older generation and can channel those influences into fresh, new compositions effectively.
↔  One of the eccentrics Longo pays tribute to is occultist Netta Fornario, on the album’s first song, “Netta”. Accompanied by a lilting waltz tempo, gentle acoustic guitar and aching strings, Longo piles on a wealth a novelistic lyrics in a relentless yet irresistible style that sounds like the work of someone who studied Cohen’s “Suzanne” over and over, or at the very least listened closely to Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks or Veedon Fleece to copy that type of loose, jazz/folk atmosphere. With Fornario as his muse, Longo imbues “Netta” with a mix of empathy and poetic mystery.
↔  “Me and my downtime, we get along / Strapped on my back like a nuclear bomb,” Longo sings urgently on “The Guesthouse”, perhaps a reference to the potential perils of an insular personality. The chorus includes a vaguely alarming line: “Do you have any idea what I’m like on my own?” Like the aforementioned Heaton, Longo’s ability to transform the sweet sophistication of a well~constructed pop song into a blunt cautionary tale — a tough trick to pull off in lesser hands — works spectacularly throughout Wooden Cave. The words can be sharp and unforgiving, but the music is timeless and deeply felt. Instrumental touches that may seem strange on the surface are executed marvelously. “Death in a Field” is a perfect example. The wistful indie~pop that brings to mind Oregon~based cult artist Eric Matthews includes subtle horn swells, those ever~present strings, and Jonny Lam’s gorgeous pedal steel. Under most other circumstances, this would all come off as overstuffed. But here, it all clicks.
↔  Recorded in Queens and Brooklyn with a sizeable collective of musicians recruited on an ad hoc basis, Wooden Cave — the follow~up to the self~titled 2016 Thin Lear EP — includes plenty of retro~centered instruments, including Mellotron, Fender Rhodes, upright bass and Wurlitzer. But the songs never seem like they were pulled out of the recesses of a long~forgotten songwriter’s vault. It doesn’t have that hoary, dusty quality. Longo and the musicians create a fresh, layered, and eclectic sound in the studio. The sparse, jazzy style of “I Thought I Was Alone” works beautifully alongside the jaunty, funky power~pop of “Behold You Now”, as well as the peerless AM radio pop of “Different Tune” and the string~laden, vaguely alt~country “93 Heap”.
↔  Despite the occasionally knotty interplay of the musicians, one of Wooden Cave’s finest moments is also one of its most direct. “A Simple Phrase” is mostly led by an almost gospel~sounding piano, as Longo sings something of a lullaby to a man who has already died. “Forget about the things that need to happen,” he sings. “You’re not really here / You met your end ages ago.” The imagery and subject matter should be of no surprise to anyone familiar with Longo’s tastes. In the press materials for the album, Longo says, “my favorite songs deliver terrifying images in gorgeous packages.” ↔  https://www.popmatters.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/thinlear/
Bandcamp: https://thinlear.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThinLear
INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/thinlear/
Website: http://www.thinlear.com/
Label: https://www.egghunt-records.com/artists
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thinlear
INTERVIEW, RJ Frometa May 14, 2019:
↔  https://ventsmagazine.com/2019/05/14/interview-thin-lear/

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