Manchester Orchestra recently released their fifth album, _A Black Mile to the Surface,_ following their work on the soundtrack for the film _Swiss Army Man_. Andy Hull and Daniel McDowell were asked to use only their voices for the soundtrack. Following the release of _Cope_, which featured crescendos so clunky that they came out with an acoustic remake months later. Andy Hull said _A Black Mile to the Surface_ would be “intensity without the volume.” Perhaps working on Swiss Army Man altered their songwriting, because Manchester Orchestra certainly delivered a complex album.
_Surface_ is primarily about family and balancing the lifelong debate between the significance and insignificance of the self. Their debut album _I’m Like A Virgin Losing a Child_ came out ten years ago, and while their songwriting style has seen different phases, the songs on _A Black Mile to the Surface_ bring what Manchester Orchestra has never failed to deliver: an ever-presenting honesty, meditation on the past, and a powerful encapsulation of painful, life-defining moments. This is, after all, the band who wrote, “I Can Feel a Hot One”—a song about Hull’s nightmare in which his pregnant wife died in a car accident.
_A Black Mile to the Surface_ is available on Spotify now. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.
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Written by: Brianna Di Monda
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