La Dispute “Wildlife” LP – It’s not that La Dispute’s Wildlife is a long album that’s the problem; it’s the fact that it feels like a long album that’s the problem. Similar to how a good movie can still feel swift at 3 1/2 hours, listeners tend to forget about the length with an album good enough. But Wildlife tends to drone on an on, and that’s never a good sign.
La Dispute comes at listeners this time around with a title much shorter and less pretentious than 2008’s Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair, but the album still feels incredibly weighty, clocking in at nearly 60 minutes and following a young adult’s search for purpose. Maybe that’s why the lyrics of opener “A Departure” feel more like stream of consciousness than well-penned lyrics, as the character sets out to explore the world. Still, it seems just a bit sloppy and a little too indie for its own good.
But that’s primarily what listeners can expect over the course of 14 news tracks, which set up the album as a collection of short stories, broken up by “author’s notes” and monologues. The music is designed to capture the tones of each story, but it mostly just blends together with the strained vocals and off-tempo melodies. The stories also work together to weave an underlying narrative over the course of the album.
If it all sounds a bit much – a bit contrived – it absolutely is. It comes at listeners with the density of a Dickens novel, but fails to convey the same kind of classic tale underneath it all. It’s just too much to absorb, and more importantly, the music isn’t engaging enough to draw the listener in to really make him care and work for the story. And even when vocalist Jordan Dreyer turns an interesting phrase in “Harder Harmonies” – like “But all the while he’s playing there’s a humming/Coming up and through the window outside/And even he has to admit a certain melody in it/But then why can’t he harmonize?” – it simply seems like clever wordplay rather than something as spectacular as the band hopes it to be.
More than anything, though, I’m disappointed in the vinyl release. The records sound fine (it’s pressed on four sides of two black records, labeled (I, II, III and IV), with artwork that sees nature boarded up, with some Pollock-esque splash art mucking it all up a bit more. What I’m really bummed about, though, is that rather than take advantage of the size of the vinyl packaging, the band simply tosses in what I can only imagine is the same lyrics book that comes with the CD, as it is the same size. For such a fully-realized vision (as much as I’m not a fan of it), it seems like the band would have left no stone unturned. At least it comes with a download card, I suppose.
Purchase La Dispute – Wildlife on Vinyl at Shop Radio Cast
Review by: Bill Jones
Sound/Press Quality: 3/5
The Album: 2/5
Artwork/Packaging: 2/5
Vinyl Collective boards
4 Comments
The first sentence baffles me.
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever disagreed with a review more than I have with this one. This is one of the most engaging, interesting, emotional, powerful listens I’ve experienced in a while. Light years ahead of their first full length album.
have you seen the deluxe edition packaging? it’s pretty ridiculous how elaborate it is. if you saw it you could delete the entire last paragraph of your review. Also, i disagree entirely with the rest of your review. this album is incredible, maybe you should spend some more time with it.
this is stupid.