Sequencing matters.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a maxim that may feel slightly less relevant in an era when singles and EPs are ascendant, but it\u2019s one of the defining elements of the album as an art form. Recording a terrific batch of songs doesn\u2019t guarantee you\u2019ll deliver a terrific album\u2014you still have to curate the tracks into a run order that maximizes both their individual impact and the overall experience of the album for the listener. \u00a0<\/p>\n
For an illustration of this maxim in action, look no further than Conrad<\/i>, the new album from The Legal Matters, whose self-titled debut<\/a> was among my favorite indie albums<\/a> of 2014. The retrophile band, whose harmony-heavy jangle-rock often feels like a lost Brian Wilson-Paul McCartney-Gene Clark-Graham Nash collaboration circa 1967, revolves around the collective talents and harmonizing voices of singer-songwriters Andy Reed, Chris Richards and Keith Klingensmith. <\/p>\n Conrad<\/i> is populated with another set of smartly-crafted songs whose clever, often-lush arrangements make them shimmer in technicolor. Where things have gone slightly askew this time around is in the sequencing. After a few listens I rated the individual tracks in my iTunes library, and the opening four-song sequence looks like a slide falling from left to right. The rather languorous, melancholy kickoff cut \u201cAnything\u201d focuses on Richards\u2019 solo voice more than the harmonies, and the guitars are jangly but subdued, making this not particularly hooky tune both atypical and an odd choice to open the album (two stars).<\/p>\n Then oddball blues number \u201cI\u2019m Sorry Love\u201d arrives, its dirge-y verses giving way to a propulsive, harmony-rich pre-chorus and weirdly off-kilter chorus. The harmonies soar and the warbly guitar solo is spot-on, but even a clever lyric (\u201cYou play all in \/ With a devilish grin \/ As I feel like I\u2019m the witness to a crime\u201d) can\u2019t raise this one above the mean (three stars). <\/p>\n You\u2019re all the way to \u201cMinor Key\u201d before the guys sound fully like themselves again, delivering an upbeat, hooky number with smart and sunny lyrics, smooth harmonies and doubled lead vocals (four stars). The party is fully on by the time you get to \u201cShort Term Memory,\u201d a punchy rock number with chunky guitars and fun gang vocals that sounds sort of like the Beach Boys covering a lost Badfinger tune (five stars).<\/p>\n The rest of the album, varied as it is, feels more in character with their debut. The winky, Beatlesque \u201cMore Birds Less Bees\u201d features a sharp vocal arrangement, chimey guitars, and strings on the bridge. The superb \u201cPull My String\u201d sets a lonely lyric inside a gentle Monkees\/Hollies acoustic-guitars-and-harmonies arrangement that keeps you soaring through the melancholy. <\/p>\n \u201cShe Called Me To Say\u201d and \u201cHip Hooray\u201d pull off a similarly neat trick, sending rather glum lyrics soaring with expansive arrangements. In between, \u201cThe Cool Kid\u201d offers a straight-up Beach Boys homage with harmonies to die for. The album completes with the gorgeous, piano-and-dense-three-part-harmonies, single-verse snippet \u201cLull And Bye,\u201d followed by thoughtful rocker \u201cBetter Days\u201d closing things out.<\/p>\n The lasting impression left by Conrad<\/i> is of the \u201cso close but not quite\u201d variety. The Legal Matters have delivered another very strong batch of songs, for sure, but the strongest of the bunch have been partially obscured by the placement up front of a pair of tracks that probably belong around number eight and nine. Yes, Virginia: sequencing matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":32921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9487],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-44695","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-legal-matters","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44695"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}