White Hills is at it again with, So You Are… So You’ll Be. If ya haven’t heard, August 2013 marks the Thrill Jockey release of the space rock shredfest that is White Hill’s 7th full-length album. I’ve been listening to these 9 White Hills tracks unceasingly over these past few days, and I can say without any doubt that everyone is totally in for a treat.
When I started playing the first track, I was at a loss for words during that first 20 something seconds. I had no idea what to expect, and it seemed to end just as quickly as it began, like some sort of botched and messy intergalactic transmission. This same sort of sound is repeated later in the album during another track, and in a sense turns the entire album into some sort of message sent to Earth from kickass extraterrestrials.
As soon as ‘In Your Room’ starts the ‘rad as hell’ level of the album only rose. ‘In Your Room’ made me think of a less goofy, fuzzed out, B52s. After sitting down and giving all of my listening experiences of this album some serious thought, I can safely say it is definitely the highlight of the album for me. The shreddage at the end mixed with the sounds of all sorts of weird spacey atmosphere, and then the sudden choking of the song at the end is phenomenal, and really pushes you to keep listening to the rest of what the album has in store. I’m all for albums growing on me, but at the same time, it’s awesome and so much easier when bands grab your attention fast and hard. The coupling of ‘InWords’ and “In Your Room’ at the beginning of the album does exactly that for me, and that is really important for me as a listener. Right after ‘In Your Room’ White Hills gets weird with ‘The Internal Monologue.’ This track reminds me of those droney, introspective, chakra meditation songs–if any of you out there get down on those, then you’ll know exactly what to expect. I could honestly listen to it for hours on end. It’s an eerie calm break between two crushing psychedelic jams. Another highlight of the album for me is ‘Forever In Space (Enlightened).’ That song rips so hard that it’s ridiculous. So You Are… So You’ll Be is definitely something everyone who is into killer rock n’ roll jams should check out, and is a release that will be sweet as heck to spin; highly anticipated is an understatement.
Photo: Alan Hunter
Track Listing:
1. InWords
2. In Your Room
3. The Internal Monologue
4. So You Are… So You’ll Be
5. OutWords
6. Forever in Space (Enlightened)
7. Rare Upon the Earth
8. Circulating
9. MIST (Winter)
New Comments