''The Whaler'' is a 2023
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American
emo
Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...
band
Home Is Where
Home Is Where is an American emo band from Palm Coast, Florida
Palm Coast is a city in Flagler County, Florida. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 75,180, more than twice the 32,832 counted in 2000. The population was estimat ...
, their first full-length release. The album has received positive reviews from critics.
Reception
Writing for ''
BrooklynVegan
''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...
'', Andrew Sacher writes about the diversity of the sounds on ''The Whaler'' as they "recall... anything from Neutral Milk Hotel to Fugazi to pageninetynine, often within the same song" and the lyrics are "about subject matter that feels real and authentic and depressing and I'd imagine it's widely relatable to anyone that's given up hope for a better world".
A discussion of the album track-by-track in ''
Consequence of Sound'' has author Jonah Kreuger characterizing the musical diversity as "frantically jump
ngaround different tempos, genres, and volumes, resulting in danceable sing-alongs fit for the apocalypse".
''
Paste''s Natalie Marlin gave this album an 8.0 out of 10, writing that this release "excels when it feels like Home Is Where are at its slipperiest as a band, conjuring something capable of breaking beyond a simple genre signifier".
On June 19, that magazine ranked the best albums of the year so far, placing this at eleventh for "MacDonald’s commanding howls and yelps, alongside her jagged lyrical descriptiveness, that anchor each maneuver, complemented by guitarist Tilley Komorny’s fluid shifts in accentuating every disparate narrative".
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
named ''The Whaler'' Album of the Week, with critic Ian Cohen noting the depth of the lyrics, discussion personal and political themes and writing that the music has "a whimsy that turns both surly and surreal".
In ''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'', this was rated the 32nd best album of 2023.
''
Paste'' included this among the 30 best rock albums of 2023.
Editors at ''
BrooklynVegan
''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, ...
'' included this on their list of the 55 best albums of 2023.
Track listing
All songs written by Home Is Where, with lyrics by Brandon MacDonald.
#"skin meadow" – 5:17
#"lily pad pupils" – 5:21
#"yes! yes! a thousand times yes!" – 3:54
#"whaling for sport" – 3:19
#"everyday feels like 9/11" – 3:31
#"9/12" – 1:49
#"daytona 500" – 3:44
#"chris farley" – 2:06
#"nursing home riot" – 3:21
#"floral organs" – 2:31
Personnel
Home Is Where
*Josiah Gardella – drums, tambourine, backing vocals
*Tilley Komorny – guitar, piano, organ, backing vocals, banjo, tambourine, jingle bells, mandolin,
tape loops
*Brandon MacDonald – singing, harmonica,
singing saw
A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...
, piano, organ, tambourine, jingle bells, mandolin, tape loops
*Connor "Fat Slaps" O'Brien – bass guitar, tambourine, backing vocals
Additional personnel
*Evan Bailey – piano
*Brian Lockrem – trumpet
*Foster Miller – album art
*Zak Nirenberg – trombone, backing vocals
*Dan Pot –
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
*
Jack Shirley
Jack Shirley is a Grammy Award nominated American record producer, audio engineer and musician. He is known for his analog driven aesthetic, and work with eclectic artists, including Deafheaven, whose 2013 sophomore album ''Sunbather'' received wi ...
– tape loops,
mixing,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
,
mastering
*Shannon Taylor – backing vocals
*Joey Tobin – documentation,
field recordings
See also
*
List of 2023 albums
The following is a list of albums, EPs, and mixtapes released in or scheduled for release in 2023. These albums are (1) original, i.e. excluding reissues, remasters, and compilations of previously released recordings, and (2) notable
No ...
References
External links
*
*
Page from Wax BodegaBandcamp album page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whaler
2023 albums
Albums produced by Jack Shirley
Home Is Where albums