Seattlest: A Hundred Miles Off

jason

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 17:07:49 -0800

i get the sense (both from critics' reviews & my own repeated listens) that while bows & arrows felt like it was building on the quality and promise of everyone..., the new album is the band pulling back. from the buried guitars to being mostly mid-tempo throughout, the main point seemed to be restraint. a hundred miles off is growing on me, but it definitely started out a little surprising and somewhat disappointing just on my own expectations.

Audrey

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:55:20 -0800

Yeah, it was probably just bad timing and a convergence of good shows on the same night, but still, it's a damn shame.And though the averages of the reviews for the last two albums are similar, there's a complete difference in tone. There were a lot of glowing reviews for Bows and Arrows (which made many critics' Top 10 for that year); meanwhile, most of the write-ups for A Hundred Miles Off have been just plain mediocre.

jason

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:21:55 -0800

two possibilities as to attendance - the mountain goats at neumo's (which was packed) and halou at chop suey. i asked a few friends about their plans and the walkmen were definitely the 3rd option. if the walkmen had played a different night, i would've gone. maybe the band overreached since they put on a really good set at neumo's a couple of years ago. their metacritic average was about the same for "bows & arrows".