The complete Manchester Orchestra

I started listening to this band when I found out they were touring with mewithoutYou on their last US tour. I listened to "I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child" for the first time about a week and a half before I saw them live, and ended up listening to it 15 or 20 times. Needless to say, they've become one of my recent favorites. Their first two releases are pretty different from "Virgin", as it's mainly their vocalist and primary songwriter on his own. There's a heavier electronic influence, which gives the music more of a Postal Service or Prizefighter Inferno type sound. "Virgin" features a full, five-piece band, and combines the sounds of bands as diverse as The Weakerthans, Sufjan Stevens, Placebo, and Explosions in the Sky into something beautiful and anthemic. The Manchester Orchestra creates music that, even though it's occasionally dark, makes me happy to be alive. I've listened to "Virgin" more times than I can remember now, and every time I hear the fading notes at the end of "Colly Strings", I feel happier than I did when I started the album. Any music that has that effect deserves to be heard.

Also, these guys are going to be on a co-headlining tour with Colour Revolt from July 27 through August 16. I highly recommend you see them, as they are fantastic live, and they need all the support they can get. Check their myspace for dates, as their website isn't up to date as of right now (though check it, as there's a really good bio on them). If you do see them, their frontman Andy wants you to bring him your favorite albums, according to this, so do it.


Nobody Sings Anymore
1. Golden Ticket
2. Window
3. The Procession
4. I'd Rather Have
5. She Found a Love
6. Anything Left To Tell Me?
7. The Other Side
8. Please Don't Go
9. Girl With Broken Wings
10. Slow To Learn
11. La-di-da


You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, But Brilliance Needs a Good Editor
1. The Procession
2. Alice and Interiors
3. Slow to Learn
4. I'd Rather Have
5. Play It Again, Sam! You Don't Have Any Feathers


I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child
1. Wolves at Night
2. Now that you're Home
3. The Neighborhood is Bleeding
4. I can feel your Pain
5. Where Have You Been?
6. I can Barely Breathe
7. Sleeper 1972
8. Golden Ticket
9. Alice and Interiors
10. Don't Let Them See You Cry
11. Colly Strings


Tree Sound Sessions
1. Make a Quite Impressive Noise
2. Sacred Heart
3. Sleeper 1972
4. When We Were Trees