So who's heard of the band The Dear Hunter? A friend of mine showed me them about a year ago, and they've been my favorite band ever since. Why? Well first of all, the lead singer and brainchild behind the group is Casey Crescenzo, former lead singer of The Receiving End of Sirens (commonly written as TREOS). TREOS is an entry for another day, but they are a post-hardcore & experimental group (3 singers is never a bad thing.
Ok, maybe I lied a little bit.
Anyway, after TREOS broke up (although I've heard word that there will be reunion shows coming up this may??? anyone know anything???) Casey went on his own way and start working on his side project that he had started developing while he was still with TREOS. First of all, you have to understand this guy. It's like Paul Bunyan, Pavarotti , and Jesus all combined into one awesome musical genius.
+
+
= 
Yup, Casey is pretty much the most awesome man on the planet. Without a doubt. Seriously, I can't stop listening to The Dear Hunter. One of the reasons why I love them so much is because all of their music is based around the same concept. Currently, they are three acts through a six act epic tale of a mysterious individual named The Dear Hunter, who so far in the story has had a pretty rough life for him. I wouldn't say that these are concept albums in the traditional sense, as they don't use leitmotifs and repeated themes, but why split hairs, right? I can't count how many times I've sat down to do homework and listened through all three acts back to back to back.
Act I: The Lake South, The River NorthTrack Listing:
1. "Battesimo Del Fuoco" - 1:56
2. "The Lake South" - 1:43
3. "City Escape" - 5:56
4. "The Inquiry of Ms. Terri" - 5:56
5. "1878" - 7:02
6. "The Pimp and The Priest" - 6:00
7. "His Hands Matched His Tongue" - 6:00
8. "The River North" - 4:03
*Plot Spoilers Ahead* Yes, there is a plot to this music. In fact, that's what it's all about. Like I said before, through this music we get to hear the story of The Dear Hunter, and it is one hell of a story. Act I is only an EP, but that doesn't mean that it is any less impressive than the other two acts released so far. When listening to this music, I recommend sitting down or doing something that allows you to listen uninterrupted for the length of the three albums, or at least one act at a time. The Dear Hunter isn't the type of band that is going to try to find a "hit single" in their album (though I think that nobody should really be doing that anymore, it lessons the attention paid to the entire album), and you shouldn't be trying to find one either. There's such a wide variety of instrumentation here, and you really can't think of as anything else but the opening of a truly epic story. How cool would it be to be born with something as cool as "Battesimo Del Fuoco" playing? There are some great instrumental segments on this album, particularly with "The Lake South" and "1878". And of course, you have to love the awesome chorale on t portion of "The Pimp in the Priest". Trust me, it's awesome. So anyway, after an
album full of encounters from evil pimps and repeated attempts to get away from a not so great childhood home, we get to act II.Act II: The Meaning of, & All Things Concerning Ms. Leading.
Track listing:
1. "The Death and the Berth" - 0:38
2. "The Procession" - 4:59
3. "The Lake and the River" - 9:29
4. "The Oracles on the Delphi Express" - 4:18
5. "The Church and The Dime" - 4:57
6. "The Bitter Suite 1 and 2: Meeting Ms. Leading and Through the Dime" - 6:06
7. "The Bitter Suite 3: Embrace" - 7:46
8. "Smiling Swine" - 4:45
9."Evicted" - 3:44
10. "Blood of the Rose" - 3:48
11. "Red Hands" - 6:07
12. "Where the Road Parts" - 4:29
13. "Dear Ms. Leading" - 4:28
14. "Black Sandy Beaches" - 4:13
15. "Vital Vessle Vindicates" - 7:09
I don't even know where I'd begin describing Act II. After a brief funeral (literally), the album kicks off with "The Procession" and "The Lake and The River". If you aren't hooked already than...well I don't know what to say, except to keep listening. The story is a bit easier to understand here (though overall The Dear Hunter is much easier to understand than some of the Coheed albums. I get the fact that there is a story behind those, but I have no clue what it is..), and you can definitely tell by some of the song titles. I mean I'm pretty sure that all of us know that "The Bitter Suite 3: Embrace" isn't about playing scrabble late into the night, and "Red Hands" isn't about painting your hands red in kindercare class. Speaking of Red Hands, I dare you to try not to listen to that song on Repeat. As the best known song The Dear Hunter has, it's spread around quite a bit, and justifiably so. The emotion is intense, and I'm sure a lot of us can relate to what is being said there (I'm not going to go that far into spoilers, sorry). Act II is a story of finding love and losing love, trust and betrayal, and an eventual departure for bigger things. It's a work of art that many of us can identify with. That's a good thing too, because Act III takes that feeling and basically curb-stomps it.
Act III: Life and Death
Track Listing:
| 1. | "Writing on a Wall" | 1:38 |
| 2. | "In Cauda Venenum" | 5:29 |
| 3. | "What It Means to be Alone" | 4:49 |
| 4. | "The Tank" | 4:39 |
| 5. | "The Poison Woman" | 4:51 |
| 6. | "The Thief" | 5:01 |
| 7. | "Mustard Gas" | 4:13 |
| 8. | "Saved" | 4:41 |
| 9. | "He Said He Had a Story" | 3:39 |
| 10. | "This Beautiful Life" | 4:05 |
| 11. | "Go Get Your Gun" | 3:15 |
| 12. | "Son" | 2:16 |
| 13. | "Father" | 3:25 |
| 14. | "Life and Death" | 5:45 |
Yeah, you're not going to find any anthems in this one. The Dear Hunter goes to war in Act III (literally), and all sorts of messed up stuff happens. You know, the usual with war... Poisonous gas attacks, killing your brother, evil tanks, the whole bunch. While the last album was a coming of age story in a way, Act III is about the loss of innocence. Well, I don't know how innocent The Dear Hunter was before (he's really got to lay off the prostitutes...), but all things held relative of course. There are some really epic songs in this one ("Mustard Gas", The Thief"), and there is a new intensity to The Dear Hunter's sound that we haven't heard before. Things get really trippy towards the end (I'm not going to reveal that part though), and I'm really curious what Act IV will be about. Act III is darker, bolder, and louder than any of the previous Dear Hunter works, and it makes this known right away. If anything, I wish that act IV would come out sooner, because I can't get enough of these guys. They've been my favorite band since I first started listening to them, and for many damn good reasons. Go listen. Now.
That's all!
the pimp and the priest is so good :)
ReplyDelete