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Heaven Is Whenever

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Untitled

Heaven is Whenever is the fifth studio album by The Hold Steady, and it will be released May 4, 2010, on Vagrant Records in the U.S. and May 3, 2010, on Rough Trade in Europe.[1] The album's first single, "Hurricane J", premiered on Pitchfork Media on March 22, 2010.[2]

Background and recording

In 2009, The Hold Steady began writing Heaven Is Whenever whilst touring in support of their previous album, Stay Positive. According to guitarist Tad Kubler, the band "turned the back lounge of the [tour] bus into a make shift vocal booth where we could also overdub guitars. These songs gradually became the demos for the new record, and we continued writing. It allowed us to work at a pace that was dictated almost solely by our creative output. We just hit record whenever we thought we had something worth putting down."[3]

The band subsequently entered the studio with Dean Baltulonis, producer of the band's debut album, Almost Killed Me, and its follow-up Separation Sunday. Vocalist and guitarist Craig Finn states that Baltulonis is "a real close friend, so it was kind of a more relaxed, less formal way of making a record. We kind of went in for shorter sessions over a longer period of time, and we recorded a lot. There’s a fair amount of songs that didn’t make the record, and that’s always a heartbreaking thing, choosing between your favorite children."[4]

The album will not feature former keyboard player and multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay, who left the band in January 2010. Guitarist Tad Kubler will, however, perform piano and keyboards on the album, but in a somewhat diminished role in comparison to the band's previous two releases. Craig Finn states: "I think the biggest difference is that a lot of the songs were written with no piano or keys. So there’s a sense of space in it that I don’t think we’ve had since Separation Sunday."[5]

The band released four songs via the internet before the album release, "Hurricane J","Rock Problems","The Weekenders," and "Barely Breathing" All four songs contain the band's trademark anthemic choruses and nostalgic, hyper-literate lyrics, leading some critics to doubt Finn's claim that the album will be a departure from the previous three. [6]

Content and influences

Guitarist Tad Kubler has stated that "musical scores" and "cinematic soundscapes" were major influences when composing the album, listing Gustavo Santaolalla, Terence Blanchard, Jon Brion as key examples.[7]

Vocalist and guitarist Craig Finn states that the album's lyrics "speak a lot about struggle and reward. It's about embracing suffering and understanding its place in a joyful life. I think that some of the characters from old records are there, but I don't name them by name. I think it continues to examine the highs and lows that we've looked at on previous records."[8]

The title of the album comes from a lyric in the song "We Can Get Together." [9]

Track listing

  1. "The Sweet Part of the City" - 4:24
  2. "Soft in the Center" - 3:46
  3. "The Weekenders" - 3:42
  4. "The Smidge" - 3:09
  5. "Rock Problems" - 3:25
  6. "We Can Get Together" - 4:23
  7. "Hurricane J" - 2:57
  8. "Barely Breathing" - 3:30
  9. "Our Whole Lives" - 3:55
  10. "A Slight Discomfort" - 7:05

References

  1. ^ http://www.buzzgrinder.com/2010/hold-steady-heave-is-whenever-new-album-may-4/
  2. ^ http://pitchfork.com/news/38234-premiere-hold-steady-hurricane-j/
  3. ^ http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pressrelease&o=3699
  4. ^ http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/03/19/craig-finn-hold-steady-heaven-is-whenever-sxsw/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+entertainmentweekly/music-mix+(Entertainment+Weekly%27s+The+Music+Mix)
  5. ^ http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/03/19/craig-finn-hold-steady-heaven-is-whenever-sxsw/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+entertainmentweekly/music-mix+(Entertainment+Weekly%27s+The+Music+Mix)
  6. ^ http://pitchfork.com/news/38370-new-hold-steady-the-weekenders/
  7. ^ http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pressrelease&o=3699
  8. ^ http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pressrelease&o=3699
  9. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmg_toL4DXc
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