If ‘Simple Math’, Manchester Orchestra’s third album, was Andy Hull flexing his compositional muscles, then ‘Cope’ is the sound of a band embracing the most primal urges of rock music. It’s loud, uncomplicated and goes straight for the throat.
Hull, who has released a new Right Away Great Captain record and a second Bad Books album since the arrival of ‘Simple Math’ three years ago, promised “a crazy-loud rock record” and “something unrelenting and unapologetic” in the build-up to ‘Cope’ and his re-tooled band, now featuring bassist Andy Prince, have delivered it.
This is a guitar record in every sense. The broad range of instrumentation that gave ‘Simple Math’ its distinctive character has been abandoned, with ‘Cope’ being delivered atop hulking slabs of distortion, its attack noticeably one-paced by comparison. Subtlety is not a going concern, but Hull’s songwriting prowess prevents the record from ever sliding into monotony.
Often stringing his choruses out across elongated vowels, it’s Hull who provides the shading on the “black and red” of the songs, cutting through the wall of sound to throw the same melodic punches that have lit up the band’s previous work.
Girl Harbor, The Ocean and All I Really Wanted are, for example, some of the best pop songs he’s penned, even if they are swaddled in noise. The militant, amps-to-11 approach does sometimes rob ‘Cope’ of its nuances, but it’s not enough to derail the momentum. Really, the listener is swept along without a moment to reflect.
Hull’s lyrics are similarly driven. This is an album about moving on and finding a way to get by. “The invention of the ship was the invention of the shipwreck,” Hull sings on Choose You. Essentially, we’re all fucked. But how are we going to deal with that?
There’s a logical follow up to ‘Mean Everything To Nothing’, perhaps the band’s most complete album, out there somewhere, but ‘Cope’, like ‘Simple Math’, isn’t it. What it is, though, is another interesting record from a very interesting band. Hull hits more than he misses and there’s always hope that the next one will be the answer we’re after.
Manchester Orchestra Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Mon April 07 2014 - BRISTOL Fleece
Tue April 08 2014 - BIRMINGHAM Glee Club
Thu April 10 2014 - LONDON Scala
Fri April 11 2014 - MANCHESTER Academy
Sat April 12 2014 - GLASGOW SWG3
Fri September 26 2014 - PORTSMOUTH Portsmouth Pyramids
Sun September 28 2014 - NORWICH Waterfront
Mon September 29 2014 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Wed October 01 2014 - MANCHESTER Ritz
Thu October 02 2014 - GLASGOW O2 ABC Glasgow
Fri October 03 2014 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 Academy Newcastle
Sat October 04 2014 - LEEDS Metropolitan University
Mon October 06 2014 - CARDIFF Solus
Tue October 07 2014 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
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