ARTIST: The Meeting Places
TITLE: Numbered Days
LABEL: Words On Music
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 199kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 32m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-10-03
RIP DATE: 2006-07-17
Track List
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1. Love Like The Movies 3:42
2. Until It's Gone 3:05
3. Nothing's The Same 2:56
4. Mumble 2:26
5. Hall Of Fame 3:02
6. Sink Into Stone 3:25
7. Numbered Days 3:25
8. The City's Asleep 2:39
9. Pause 3:46
10. Cardboard Robot 4:10
Release Notes:
Numbered Days is the second album of luminous, infectious noise-pop by Los
Angeles' The Meeting Places. On their sophomore record the quartet has written
ten new songs that craftily combine melodic indie-pop with the tremulous
soundscapes first explored on their debut Find Yourself Along The Way (Words On
Music, 2003). Numbered Days was recorded at The Ship by Jim Fairchild
(Grandaddy, Earlimart).
The Meeting Place's renowned mastery of noise-pop shines through in the gorgeous
melodies of "Until It's Gone" and in the blistering, darker guitar work of "Sink
Into Stone" ù two songs on different ends of the lyrical and sonic spectrum in
which singer Chase Harris delves into changes in his family life.
Harris' vocal delivery serves as a refreshing counterpoint to the egocentric
formula calculated by most singers on the scene today. The Meeting Places' more
egalitarian approach to their art provides Harris with a forum to make subtler
points with his lyrics, the impact of which may be dulled in the moment, but
deepened over time. For example, on "Pause," the music has a deceptively relaxed
cadence ù resurrecting "Sister of Europe"-era Psychedelic Furs ù that
temporarily cloaks the intensity of Harris' narrative of a relationship
deteriorating into autopilot.
The inclusion of resonating atmospherics is, for The Meeting Places, never an
end itself, only a means to an end. Instead of droning into nothingness,
shimmering coats of reverb anchor the songs to set up the delivery of a
well-placed hook or a knockout punch of a chorus, such as in the boisterous,
pulsating "Nothing's The Same" or the catchy, upbeat "Hall of Fame."
The cunning implementation of dynamics and sundry instruments (e.g. piano,
glockenspiel), showcase The Meeting Places' songwriting talents, as in the album
closer "Cardboard Robot" which alternates between a calm, unwavering verse and a
searing chorus that detours into early My Bloody Valentine and kraut-rock: both
pieces stitched together seamlessly by Arthur Chan's melodic basslines.
Scott McDonald's howling guitar melodies sometimes take their cues from Eastern
music ("Love Like The Movies," "Numbered Days," "Pause"), imposing order and
form to the reverberating ambience that lurks beneath the surface. Dean
Yoshihara's relentless drumming fastens the music to rhythms that help to broker
an immediate relationship between the listener and the band.
With ten songs clocking in at thirty-three minutes, Numbered Days evokes a
leaner, more urgent approach to songwriting, in the spirit of The Jesus and Mary
Chain's Darklands or The Shins' Oh, Inverted World. Compositions judiciously
weave together from start to finish with a proportionality rarely found in an
age whose digital format tends to bloat records by the inclusion of filler.
Numbered Days will be released by Words On Music on October 3, 2006.