February 22, 20232 yr Author wow this is amazing again, the new album is gonna be up there with their best ie Walking Wounded
March 14, 20232 yr Author Really like all three so far, this is gonna be an amazing album continuing in the same vein as their last 2 proper studio albums Walking Wounded and Temperamental, which were both fantastic
April 14, 20232 yr I signed up for an account to post here because of the comments that Tracey Thorn's voice sounds 'so different' on Fuse than what listeners were previously accustomed to her sounding like. The comments regarding Tracey Thorn's voice here aren't much different than the comments on the YouTube videos for the singles they've released so far. Many have commented that her voice has 'ripened'. NEWSFLASH: Tracey Thorn's voice hasn't ripened. The vocals on Fuse are her voice run through FX (e.g. autotune) and equalization. Ben and Tracey have stated in various interviews leading up to Fuse's release that they deliberately 'f***ed up' her voice. I can't post links due to forum rules (need to have 20 posts) so use a search engine to locate (search term: guardian ebtg fuse auto-tune) “From day one, we were going: ‘We have to f*** up my voice’,” grins Thorn. “We were desperate to f*** up my voice. It’s one of the key signatures of the band, so it was the most fun thing.” “The idea of using Tracey’s voice as just another thread in the tapestry became really interesting to me because we have this reputation of: don’t mess with the voice! – that it’s sacred,” says Watt. “But we just thought: well, why?” Another item to note is that the vocals you hear on recorded music, and even live for that matter (in a staged setup) are RARELY dry. And by that I mean without some sort of effect applied. Most singers voices don't sound that great dry. Not everyone can sound as good as, for example, Christina Aguilera. If most vocalists didn't apply FX to their vocals they would sound about as dynamic as Liz Phair on her track Shane, or Stephen Malkmus, or Matt Talbot (Hum). That is to say "relatively uninspiring". Case in point, the song Dream On by Aerosmith. When people listen to that song, they wonder why doesn't Steven Tyler sound like Steven Tyler? The reason is because Dream On is one of the few songs where he didn't use his signature vocal FX. EVERY Aerosmith recording that we associate with them has featured Steven Tyler's vocals run through FX postprocessing. He obviously uses the same effect when they perform live, otherwise people wouldn't recognize his 'voice'. EBTG has for the most part used a subtle reverb on Tracey's vocals throughout the entirety of their recorded output. That reverb is what people think of when they think of Tracey Thorn. It gives her voice a bit more body to fatten it up. You can tell her voice hasn't 'ripened' by listening to the Home Sessions recording of Late in the Afternoon on YouTube (you'll have to search YT for the video because again, I can't post links here yet). That's about as close to dry as you're going to get with her voice. To even suspect for a minute that her voice had changed so drastically since the old EBTG days is either due to a lack of knowledge of music production (most people) or just naïveté. Her vocals on Fuse sound androgynous. From the moment I heard it, it was obvious they had simply chosen to apply different FX to her voice. For the record, I'm not a fan of autotune, but it's their music and they're free to make whatever music they want. At the end of the day I will still be a huge fan of their music. Tracey herself had stated in various interviews after EBTG went on hiatus that the reason she couldn't continue creating music as EBTG was that she simply didn't identify herself with the person that helped to create Walking Wounded and Temperamental. I figure she also tired of the subtle reverb effect on her vocals due to the same reasons. She simply viewed herself as a different person and the FX applied to her voice on recent recordings reflect that. Edited April 14, 20232 yr by jeenam
April 20, 20232 yr just received my signed copy, oddly one day before the official date. It looks marvelous.
April 21, 20232 yr This album is sounding fantastic so far! It feels like a hug from an old friend :wub:
April 21, 20232 yr Gave the album a spin this morning - love it on first listen, exactly what I would want from them.
April 21, 20232 yr Author Streamed it twice and love it <3 it's very Walking Wounded/Temperamental, both of which are incredible albums
April 21, 20232 yr Had this on in the background earlier and really liked what I heard. It feels like a very considered listen, like the perfect mix of feels and tempos without outstaying its welcome. I'll need a couple more listens I think but there was nothing I disliked on first hearing
April 21, 20232 yr I honestly like every track on this album! Album of the year for me so far. I'm still deciding favourites but I love When You Mess Up, Time and Time Again, Nobody Knows We're Dancing, Lost, Forever and Karaoke. Heck, I might as well just list the entire album!
April 23, 20232 yr Can’t stop listening to this, what an incredible album - really hope it’s a decent seller for them with at least some longevity (a big ask in todays climate I know) rather than being a 3-96-out release.
April 23, 20232 yr I hope my 3 copies ordered from their official site will count into UK album chart and give them at least top 5. 1975 and Taylor will sell 10k+ and that BTS thing will outsell them too, sadly.
April 23, 20232 yr I hope my 3 copies ordered from their official site will count into UK album chart and give them at least top 5. 1975 and Taylor will sell 10k+ and that BTS thing will outsell them too, sadly. If they are being shipped to an address outside of the UK then they won’t count towards the UK charts :cry:
April 23, 20232 yr If they are being shipped to an address outside of the UK then they won’t count towards the UK charts :cry: oh so only one counts from me then, one I gave to my friend. I wonder if those 2 copies would be 'lost' or counted to our national chart. I don't think Universal would report those sales as those sold in Poland.
April 27, 20232 yr Author Currently in love with No one knows we're Dancing it's so so so so St Etienne <3 ;)
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