Post-Heartland Survey and Discussion

[Alyssa!]

I'm still far too close to the record having over-listened to it for the past month, so I'm really not able to come back to it and say "this is this and that is that." Nevertheless, I get a huge musical rush from Lewis Takes Off His Shirt and Tryst With Mephistopheles. All of the tracks excite me, but those two, and the first one moreso, wildly excite every part of me. The feeling of being on the horse, the regular beat with the disrupting and confounding dissonance and walls of sound as we strive ever onward to contain them, encapsulate them, break through them, claim ourselves as ourselves in one glorious moment of wholeness and independence: "I'm never gonna give it to you."

[dot]

I reached my The Great Elsewhere epiphany today, it took me more than 10 listens but I finally got there. Clearly it's best listened to whilst learning anatomy on the tube.

[avocadosnumber]

Live, I'd have to say that E is for Estranged is my favorite song from Heartland by light years. Live, I'd have to say that E is Estranged is my favorite song ever. The CD version, however, while nice just isn't quite as amazing for me. Keep the Dog Quiet and Flare Gun are also songs that I like a lot more live (again, not to say that on CD they're bad by any means).

Red Sun No. 5 is the surprise one for me. If I were to analyze the characteristics I liked in each song, I'm not even sure it wouldn't be in the top three, but for some reason I'm drawn so strongly too it. The Great Elsewhere, too. I'm inclined not to like it because the poll says most people here like it (and I hate things other people like because I'm batshit crazy), but I can't help myself.

Heartland as an album is supreme. I'm not sure I can say I like it more or less than the others (they're all different and quite incomparable to each other in my opinion) but the feeling it inspires in me is perfect--just as the feelings He Poos Clouds, Has a Good Home, Spectum 14th Century, 49 MP inspire are perfect. I really like the story arch whether it's actually there or not, and I like that Owen doesn't always give us what we want. Like answers.

[JackAltman]

Jan 19, 2010 0:20:54 GMT -5 avocadosnumber said:

Live, I'd have to say that E is for Estranged is my favorite song from Heartland by light years. Live, I'd have to say that E is Estranged is my favorite song ever. The CD version, however, while nice just isn't quite as amazing for me.

Thank you. It's good to hear that said.

I know we're kind of calling it cheating to not listen to the whole of "Heartland" all the way through, but Domino effed my pre-order and the only thing I've gotten so far is an apologetic download link. I'm saving myself for the vinyl, but I had to sneak a listen to this song, feeling so connected to the version from the fm4 broadcast. But, yes, I'll sheepishly agree that I wasn't moved to expected depths of emotion that the live recordings bring me.

I can't pin down why yet, but I think some measure of subtlety is absent; it's just got more stuff on it, and that stuff makes the message seem less vulnerable, like, "well, he'll be okay. He's got that orchestra."

And, I admit, too, that part of me is going into this first listen with some prejudice against "TGE," thinking that people find it interesting because it sounds like fucking falling down the stairs. Does that make me batshit crazy?

Yeah, probably.

[Thomas]

Heartland is like a penis!


Its a grower, not a shower.

[dannyboy]

PAHAHAHA. Jack I am sorry. Your post just got absolutely overshadowed by Thomas's massive....insight. Thomas FTW.

[dot]

Jan 19, 2010 0:35:55 GMT -5 JackAltman said:

Thank you. It's good to hear that said.

I know we're kind of calling it cheating to not listen to the whole of "Heartland" all the way through, but Domino effed my pre-order and the only thing I've gotten so far is an apologetic download link. I'm saving myself for the vinyl, but I had to sneak a listen to this song, feeling so connected to the version from the fm4 broadcast. But, yes, I'll sheepishly agree that I wasn't moved to expected depths of emotion that the live recordings bring me.

I can't pin down why yet, but I think some measure of subtlety is absent; it's just got more stuff on it, and that stuff makes the message seem less vulnerable, like, "well, he'll be okay. He's got that orchestra."

I also had the issue that I loved the fm4 version a lot and then felt the album version was missing something comparatively. Individually I don't think the song is as good on Heartland but I found when listening through the album from start to finish, E is for Estranged fits in well.

[Alyssa!]

I'm a bit sad that Midnight Directives isn't getting any love. It can get...bloated, in parts, and the frantic percussion isn't always enough to keep the horn and violin lines going. Yet when I listen to it, it feels like a baptism into Heartland. There are so many frantic and stunning lines running through it: the offset bass drum and snare patterns during the chorus; the creepy wailing of the held notes towards the beginning; the frantic pizzicato; the short and random horn/woodwind parts; Owen's desperate reaching for his high register while a bleating trumpet matches him, etc. MD isn't as well-constructed as other songs (at one point a Kitchfork commontator said something disparaging about Owen's tendency to milk the hell out of patterns or sequences in his music, and I think that's apt here), but it's a preparation for the unfolding (or maybe the "growing," Thomas) of the whole work.

[Thomas]

I wish I could have an extra vote for Midnight Directives. I thought the Nova Scotia lo-fi version was the best because i thought owen was screaming a-la-les-mouche to reach that note and it just completed me.
everytime past the "of a hundred thousand unwanted souuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUULS" straight into the "its a bit of meat and a bit of coal part" I always stop, look around, and realize I'm doing less grand stuff then what the music is soundtracking. (i.e buying groceries when I should be SLAYING A MOFUCKING COCKATRICE)

[An Amateur]

Jan 19, 2010 22:56:27 GMT -5 Thomas said:

I wish I could have an extra vote for Midnight Directives. I thought the Nova Scotia lo-fi version was the best because i thought owen was screaming a-la-les-mouche to reach that note and it just completed me.
everytime past the "of a hundred thousand unwanted souuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUULS" straight into the "its a bit of meat and a bit of coal part" I always stop, look around, and realize I'm doing less grand stuff then what the music is soundtracking. (i.e buying groceries when I should be SLAYING A MOFUCKING COCKATRICE)

YES Thomas! At least with He Poos Clouds I knew whatever I was doing had to be related to one of the eight schools of magic. I wasn't really watching the weather network, I was casting a divination spell!

[drtchocky]

Yet, on songs like “Red Sun No. 5,” and “Oh Heartland, Up Yours!,” the artist strips all that away demonstrating a proficiency in simplicity, and it tickles. Using his own voice as an instrument, with little to none of his beloved violin, he manages to play quietly and produce climax in silence.

Like I said in my review on my site. I think Red Sun No. 5 is the standout track because he is doing something quite different for the album.

[dannyboy]

Agreed.

[ben]

I stupidly voted for Tryst before hearing the whole album, and before hearing TGE. I know I can change my vote, but hey, Tryst is spectacular. However, TGE is probably the most complete musical event that has ever been created. Those swelling chord progressions at the end, they make my hairs stand on end. That relentless tribal beat that kicks in with the time-sig change, that makes me want to punch things. And those string hits crying out at the start make me want to cry out too. Makes all those live bootlegs I have just sound wet and sorry.

[seifer267]

Tryst is a fantastic song easily my second favorite.
Call me basic guy but I love Owen's hooks and choruses. They are absoluet gold on Tryst as well as the song I chose:
Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
I mean come on, you can drive you car as fast as possible yelling im never gonna give it to you just grooving.
Im very happy to see people on this forum diggin Owen's decidedly more classical stuff rather than the go to pop candy that I can chew on all day haha.
Cheers. Heartland is where it's at.
Bravo, Owen.

[ragamuffin]

Midnight Directives is my second favorite, behind Tryst With Mephistopheles. I liked the BAM-version better though, I think I'd like it better if it remained like that.