Derek™

Damn, that’s speedy. What do you make of the record itself so far? Any early impressions?

I think it may be the closest the band has come to doing a shoegaze record - so far, anyway - and my god, they do it well.

This speaks to me. Yeah, you’re right. It’s just that first half that comes out of nowhere, isn’t it? A little jarring. Would be pretty cool if that was indeed a teaser for new material that’s been dormant for 6 years.

This album really clicks with me too, (almost) start to finish – do you feel like the closer is somewhat out of place? I can’t shake that feeling even after 6 years.

I actually did not “get” Peregrine at all until about 2-3 years ago. I think it may be their most experimental record in a lot of ways but it’s still so consistent. LLO will always have my heart but Sagarmatha does so many things right. And I still love Illumination Ritual after countless plays.

7 is seriously so good. I was pleased with Depression Cherry and didn’t expect them to outdo it. They’ve been on a roll.

”What’s... Check4Change?”

I believe you do.

Good call. Should’ve known better, as is the way of all Bandcamp releases. Interesting to see it listed as track 3. I assume this is a single LP right?

Someone’s gotta’ do the dirty work.

Wasn’t challenging your detective work, just relaying secondhand info I glanced from Reddit that I didn’t want to cite as factual.

Damn. Agreed that it has a bit of an “opener” vibe, but I could also see that slow intro being a breather point midway through the album. Has anyone seen a track list yet? I do admire how this single screams signature “Appleseed Quality” and yet continues their legacy of never having one album sound too similar to another. (At least based off these 6.5 minutes so far.) I’m expecting fresh, good things in June.

Happy that the album drops in just about 1 month but I don’t think I can resist checking out this single.

So that’s the official album art yeah? No wonder they slaved away for 6 years.

Teal me up.

I was fairly pleased with it on first listen but have really warmed up to it as a whole over the last week. Tough to gauge the staying power, long-term, compared to everything else... but right now I’m pretty pleased. Kansas maybe overstays its welcome just a smidgen, and some of the talkie parts in The Pull Of You (“Do you hear me? Just be here”) are corny as fuck even after a handful of listens. But I’m liking the shape its taking. Even the slow-burners I was sort of iffy on (Roman Holiday) have opened up for solid replay value.

With my post in mind, HV may be edged out by Alligator or is at least tied with it. Even if that album came out before I was officially on the National hype train, I can’t deny that it’s basically a perfect record.

This warms my heart to read. Sorry you had to learn the hard way. But we’ve all been there at least once — you’ve now been initiated into VC as a seasoned member, and completed a rite of passage. Welcome aboard!

I was super late to the National game, so HV is what put them on the radar for me after neglecting to check out Boxer and Alligator per a friend’s recommendation, for years straight. (Dumb.). That being said, HV will always have a special place in my heart and take me back to a specific time in my life where I was wrapping my head around the mystique of the band’s sound. It really is a special album.

Hour and a half until pre-orders go up and we get a taste of the new album. Can’t believe it’s been 6 years since we last did an Appleseed PO. Been revisiting the band’s discography over the last couple of weeks in preparation of TFLOI’s release in June. Does Illumination Ritual have the band’s best drumming to date or is it just me?

Okay, okay. A lot of those critiques are more applicable to Fridmann than Yip. And Yip’s worked with a few bands that have a fine track record in the production department. (Turnover for instance.) I haven’t abandoned hope... but also couldn’t resist some Photoshop tomfoolery.

So they're officially in the studio with Yip man as we speak. Some photos made it onto Facebook but I went ahead and took some liberties before reposting them here.

I think those will do nicely. Thank you.

Dan is so on-the-ball with Strange Ranger releases that he's literally a top-5 result in a Google image search for this album. No lie.

Tell me more about this shorts bundle. Do they provide adequate give and breathing room to disrespect my surroundings or nah?