''Generals'' is the second studio album by the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band

The Mynabirds The Mynabirds are an American indie pop band founded by singer-songwriter and pianist Laura Burhenn, who was previously one half of the Washington, D.C. indie duo Georgie James. Burhenn formed The Mynabirds in 2009, and shortly after signed to ...

. It was released by

Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

on June 5, 2012 and produced by Richard Swift. The album's title was inspired by

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

's photograph "Generals of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

Track listing

All songs written by Laura Burhenn, except where noted.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, ''Generals'' has an average score of 79 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Eric Harvey, writing for

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

, praised the album as "a stylistically diverse collection of openhearted, politically engaged pop", adding that Burhenn succeeds in "translating erdeeply held political conventions into good tunes". In a similarly positive review for

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

, Tony Hardy also comments on the political nature of the lyrics, stating that Burhenn "juxtaposes the privileged, regal ladies of Avedon’s portrait with those she considers to be true daughters of the revolution, the likes, say, of

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the ...

Naomi Wolf Naomi Rebekah Wolf (born November 12, 1962) is an American feminist author, journalist and conspiracy theorist. Following her first book '' The Beauty Myth'' (1991), she became a leading spokeswoman of what has been described as the third wave ...

." Drake Baer of Paste described ''Generals'' as " urhenn'smilitant, heartfelt, frustrated pacifism ..set into pop convention".

References

External links

*
Generals
' on ''Allmusic'' 2012 albums The Mynabirds albums Albums produced by Richard Swift (singer-songwriter) Saddle Creek Records albums {{2010s-indie-rock-album-stub