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The Thermals - Now We Can See
| Noripcord |
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Every Thermals record contains a handful of moments that shine with insane euphoria, moments where the group’s careening jubilations arrive at a wild peak of unhinged spirit and glee. These moments are the great Thermals songs within great Thermals songs, a few precious seconds of pure ecstasy that sound more conjured than performed (choice epiphanies in Goddamn the Light, How We Know, When You’re Thrown, Returning to the Fold, and St. Rosa and the Swallows come to mind; there are many, many others). If you love the Thermals then you know these moments well: you eagerly anticipate them, you replay tracks endlessly in order to relive them, you physically react to them and hear them screaming in your ear for days. These are the kind of moments that most bands only manage to muster a handful of times, if ever, in the span of a career. The Thermals are special because they seem to approach the precipice on almost every track; they seem to thrive on the edge of epiphany, peeking over and laughing wide, and occasionally diving down head first. The premise of succumbing to gravity is more than just a clever way of making the sound of the Thermals tangible. The surreal anticipation of relief in death is a lyrical obsession of Now We Can See and is central to one of the record’s truly massive moments. The raging finish to I Let It Go is sheer cathartic rapture: spurred on by the Hutch Harris’ off-the-cuff whoops and set to saccharine-stun via Kathy Foster’s maiden turn on the mic, the song’s sturdy mid-tempo riff and bittersweet hook culminate in a loud, eruptive coda, a pitch-perfect aural match to a song about embracing a nose-dive into the unknown. As the Thermals barrel into the red, Hutch is screaming emphatically, “I looked my fear in the eye/ I looked at the water below/ I knew I could love or die/ I let it go, I let it go.” The arc on When I Was Afraid is just as glorious: the song’s first half pits a stuttering groove against Harris’ clipped metaphysical wails (“Love/ it held me near/you held me close/I couldn’t die,”) and builds towards a rib-soaking guitar lead and a breathless final lap that has Harris shouting, “Fear is mine/ fear is by my side,” like he’s skinny dipping in the River Styx....full text |
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| Prefixmag. |
| How do you follow-up an album about religion, war, and basically everything wrong in the world today? That's the question facing Portland's Thermals, as they follow-up their masterwork, The Body, The Blood, The Machine with their fourth album, Now We Can See, their first for Kill Rock Stars after leaving long-time label Sub Pop. The album will feature 10 tracks of Thermals-style punk blasts, boosted by lead singer Hutch Harris' divisive lyrics....full text |
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| Adequacy |
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You can read, “Either way, the story continues…from beyond the grave! With catchy choruses!” and suddenly, everything The Thermals has made makes perfect sense. This is how the press release for The Thermals’ latest, greatest, new album, Now We Can See reads. It’s been well noted and detailed that breakthroughs can change bands and when you are responsible for one of 2006’s most accomplished and best albums, you have some expectations. Rest assured, The Thermals is back and as tight as ever. Those sweeping guitars, Hutch Harris’ boisterous, Malkmus-like delivery and above all, those catchy choruses are in fine form. Success can change you but for some bands, it only means making more of the same great music you were always known for. Although this isn’t so much a concept album, like The Body, The Blood, The Machine was, it is a tightly wound album that succeeds on its own accord. You can’t help but smile when you hear Harris and Kathy Foster singing in unison, “oh-way-oh-way-oh-whoa,” on the album’s lead single and title track. The music has always been very basic and fundamental but it’s absolutely lovely because of it. They’re definitely singing about how, somehow, after eight terrible years, our country finally made the right choice. And although this is all positive, there is much work to be done. Unapologetic and unforgiving, Harris sings, “We do as we please, now we can see” before leading into a melodically tuneful guitar solo. Everything hits full circle with “How We Fade” and its riff-heavy feel and Harris’ romantic lyrics. The music is full-bodied and sparkles with a gleaming grace and it allows for the dreamy texture to take over....full text |
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