hop along: bark your head off, dog

brilliant album, totally emerging from the shadow of the previous album. it's super early, but i'm leaning towards prior things, which has my favorite Frances vocal on the album and some excellent interplay between the vocal and the arrangement in the song's second half.

same but I'll need to listen another 100x to be sure

i've listened to painted shut at least that many times and i'm no closer to picking a favorite song on that one haha

I have “How Simple” stuck in my head and it’s one of my favourite recent songs. As in the other thread, it’s a different record to ‘Painted Shut’, but has grown on me very quickly.

my favorite song on painted shut is almost certainly "texas funeral" or "powerful man." depends on the hour

do0oOon’t woOrry we will
both find out just
not together

afternoon vanilla sun
crawls away across the lawn
through the phone i pull you and
drag your voice around

i can’t get into ‘Not Abel’ :-/

drums on the chorus of Fox in Motion ^_^

Album of the year. Not a bum song on this but the five song stretch from “Not Able” to “Look of Love” is especially transcendent.

Really rare to hear an album that is so reassuring and homey but also has such a thrust of forward momentum.

imagine going to band practice and the band you’re in is hop along

I almost wonder if Frances deliberately wrote the vocal lines on this to be impossible to sing along with (best example being the last couple minutes of "Prior Things"). The fact that the crowd shouted along to every word when I saw them was a huge irritant since she was the only person I wanted to hear on their songs.

this is an outrageous comparison i know but i wonder if this is what it was like to be alive when joni mitchell was releasing records that were totally distinct immersive environments every few years

I’ve never heard this band until this exact moment

This album sounds like Haim covering Stars

xp yes, you have gone too far

really like this but lament the reduced presence of the Big Voice. i thought one of the big step ups from GD>PS was a better sense for when and how to let it rip, sort of sad the next stage of the evolution is being so parsimonious with it.

I feel that, and I miss the big voice too, but the more I sit with this record the more I appreciate her more restrained approach, so when she lets loose it hits a bit harder

"somewhere a judge" turns into a haim song which is not something i was expecting from this band

album is good tho

Yeah it’s the only song on the album that feels a little out of place. But it’s also a great song so it’s hard to complain about

thanks for making this poll, been meaning to check out this band & i like this record. after one listen i'd say 'not abel' or 'somewhere a judge' but i will listen more.

interesting i think 'abel' sounds out of place and not 'judge'

i like the last minute of 'not abel' now, still kind of enduring the baroque first third

based on having seen a couple shows now, i think these guys are a fun but not particularly strong live act. they don't really seem to have a handle on how to do their material justice. it all sounds a bit thin. imo there is clearly more to the band on record than just a showcase for frances but live maybe not.

have you seen them perform new material? i've never seen them live but i had the same impression from watching their tiny desk. but it seems like the new album was made to offset that

yeah, i just saw them last night. not a noticeable improvement with the new material for the most part. how simple was p limp as the opener. however, look of love and prior things which tbh are neither among my favourite songs on the album both popped live and were stand outs from the new tracks.

painted shut era shows were awesome. haven’t seen them yet this cycle

i can’t reiterate enough how awesome the drummer of this band is

I will echo that they were v good on the last tour (the crowd was my issue)

Afternoon vanilla sun crawls away across the lawn
Through the phone I pull you and drag your voice around

LOTY

Seeing them tonight at Brooklyn Steel, I’m pumped to see the new songs live. This will somehow be the fourth time I’m seeing them since Painted Shut came out.

the show was great, the new material sounded awesome. i think i finally understand Not Abel, now, which is great. They played everything from the new album but One That Suits Me and How You Got Your Limp, and broke out Well-Dressed (always a showstopper), Horseshoe Crabs, The Knock, Happy to See Me, and Powerful Man. They closed out with a perfect rendition of Tibetan Pop Stars.

they are rapidly becoming my favorite band of the decade

I wish the guitar player in this band ripped a little more; I find his playing to be a bit too polite. Generally into the singer/songs, though.

voted for prior things as i always knew i would

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

This album sounds like Haim covering Stars

― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, April 20, 2018 10:51 AM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this post is violence to me

i guess i didn't vote? would've put one in for "writer"

also lol

Look of Love 0

this is criminal. also, happy birthday to brad!

The Fox in Motion 1

my vote. "she looked like decay in motion" best lyric on the record, "how can i explain it / having been seen / what would that mean" best moment on the record

cousin take me home

cute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Med11WYZmds

best band in the world

saw 'em in LA a few weeks back and they were impressive as heck

frances mentions joanna newsom as an influence, both lyrically and vocally, in this piece, which i'm really glad to have confirmed and have found to be one of the most underrated aspects of her style

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/13/642251473/joanna-newsom-is-the-21st-centurys-timeless-voice

*and also influential as a visual artist!

this is the best album

how can i
explain it?
having been seen
what would that mean?

My album of the year...

https://devonrecordclub.com/2018/12/08/hop-along-bark-your-head-off-dog-round-107-toms-choice/

I went with Somewhere a Judge in the poll, but half a dozen of the songs have been my favourite at some point in time. Currently it's probably Prior Things.

All songs with fewer votes than the ones with most were robbed.

I think the voters here correctly picked Lump and Love as the weakest tracks, but What the Writer Meant is one of the 2 or 3 best on the record and deserved a vote (I went with prior things)

🚨🚨🚨 European tour with lots of UK dates on sale on Friday 🚨🚨🚨

The last three days have just been me dancing and singing round the house to this in anticipation of seeing them on Friday. V fun. God, she has the best vocal melodies.

Me too! (Except seeing on Tuesday). Not Abel has the highest likelihood of making me cry at a gig out of any song in years. It took me a while to warm up to this band, but I’m glad I did.

The Fox in Motion 1

this is the best one though

cousin take me home / all the way off in the city

solo album on the way

https://francesquinlan.bandcamp.com/releases

ft a carry the zero cover

here's the first song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uNwxeIw1bk

kind of all over the place, in a good way

well this is unexpected. and great!

the 808 is kinda weird, why use that when you have the hop along drummer

new frances song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EahTg_gCO1A

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/799335901/first-listen-hop-along-frances-quinlan-likewise

We got the album at work a few weeks ago. Easily the best album I heard this month.

i, for one, am excited

really nice stuff imo, not that different sonically from bark, but heavier on keys and acoustic than electric guitars.

songs are still the same knotty puzzles that are a blast to untangle, and frances is still one of the best singers in the biz.

when will they put out a new album

good question! for now, tho, frances quinlan has an incredible song out on the soundtrack for 'i saw the tv glow'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVYpcgSYbzY

the greatest album of all time

feels backwards to have learned recently, after loving this band for almost a decade, that the guitarist is also the guitarist in algernon cadwallader

cheerleader chant in "one that suits me" is the greatest

For me, stands toe to toe with Future Me Hates Me as one of the best indie albums of the past decade. Never gets old.