''Separation Sunday'' is the second studio album by the American indie rock band

The Hold Steady The Hold Steady is an American rock band originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, now based in Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2003. The band consists of Craig Finn (vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), ...

, released on May 3, 2005, through

Frenchkiss Records Frenchkiss Records is an independent record label based in New York City. The label was started in 1999 by Syd Butler, bassist and founder of Les Savy Fav. The label's first purpose was to release Les Savy Fav's second album '' The Cat and The Co ...

. A

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, ''Separation Sunday'' follows the interconnected stories of several fictional characters: Craig (the narrator), Holly (short for Halleluiah), a sometimes addict, sometimes prostitute, sometimes born again Christian or Catholic (and sometimes all three simultaneously); Charlemagne, a pimp; and Gideon, a skinhead, as they travel from city to city and party to party. ''Separation Sunday'' is lyrically dense, full of

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

allusions, self-reference word play, and puns. Vocalist/songwriter

Craig Finn Craig Finn (born August 22, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the frontman of the American indie rock band The Hold Steady, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums. Prior to forming The Hold Steady, Fi ...

typically delivers these lyrics in a distinct flavor of

sprechgesang (, "spoken singing") and (, "spoken voice") are expressionist vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, ''Sprechgesang'' is directly related to the operatic ''recitative'' manner of singing (in which ...

. Musically, ''Separation Sunday'' touches on elements of

Classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

guitar solos A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular mus ...

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

-based structures, use of

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and organ, and guitar

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

. Structurally, however, most songs eschew the standard verse-chorus-verse song structure, frequently foregoing choruses or refrains altogether. In a review of the album,

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

described The Hold Steady as "sound nglike the best

bar band A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

in the world." The

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

was photographed at the corner of Maspeth Avenue and Conselyea Street in Williamsburg,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. The song "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" was featured on the video game ''

Tony Hawk's Project 8 ''Tony Hawk's Project 8'' is a skateboarding video game and the eighth installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in November 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, an ...

''.

Critical reception

The album received an 8.7 on ''

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 ...

'', and ranked at number eight on the 2005

Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critic's poll. The album was named the number ten album of the year by

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

. Punknews.org ranked the album at number 18 on their list of the year's 20 best releases.

Track listing

All songs written by

and

Tad Kubler Tad Kubler is an American guitarist, known for his work with Lifter Puller, Song of Zarathustra, and, most-notably, The Hold Steady. He previously worked with Brett Johnson, bass player for Atmosphere, in the band Ten-fold Hate, in Minneapolis ...

, except where noted. #"Hornets! Hornets!" – 4:48 #"Cattle and the Creeping Things" – 3:47 #"Your Little Hoodrat Friend" – 3:54 #"Banging Camp" – 4:16 #"Charlemagne in Sweatpants" – 3:59 #"Stevie Nix" (Finn, Kubler, Galen Polivka) – 5:28 #"Multitude of Casualties" – 3:06 #"Don't Let Me Explode" (Finn,

Franz Nicolay Franz Nicolay (born 1977) is an American musician and writer. He is best known for playing the accordion and piano in The World/Inferno Friendship Society and keyboards in The Hold Steady from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2016 onwards. He is also ...

) – 2:23 #"Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night" (Finn, Kubler, Nicolay) – 3:20 #"Crucifixion Cruise" – 1:51 #"How a Resurrection Really Feels" – 5:32

2016 CD reissue bonus tracks

"212-Margarita" – 3:58 #"The Most Important Thing" – 3:57 #"Cattle and the Creeping Things" (demo) – 3:50 #"Charlemagne in Sweatpants" (demo) – 3:58 #"Crucifixion Cruise" (guitar demo) – 1:38 #"Crucifixion Cruise" (piano demo) – 1:46

Personnel

The Hold Steady

– lead vocals, guitar *

– guitar *Galen Polivka – bass guitar *

– keyboards *Judd Counsell – drums (1-4, 11) *Bobby Drake – drums (5-10)

Additional musicians

*Nicole Wills – vocals *Peter Hess – horns *Tim Byrnes – horns *Alan Ferber – horns

Technical

*Dean Baltulonis – producer, engineer, mixing *Dave Gardner – producer, engineer, mixing, mastering *Tad Kubler – design, layout *Seth Jabour – design, layout

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums The Hold Steady albums Frenchkiss Records albums