unexpected picks. Cul De Sac is underrated, hype for this.

I’more hyped for the tour that was also announced but this still exciting for some of this renditions, never liked the instrumentals on I Wanted so Badly but always loved the lyrics so this could be a treat

I’m excited for those last four tracks.

Patiently waiting for him to get over his overly affected edge-of-crying singing style.

nice to be able to hear the lyrics in the bridge for the first time instead of some distortion

Can't wait to see these guys doing an acoustic and electric set, as well as Spanish Love Songs and Free Throw in SF in March.

Hell yeah Washington Square Park!

Patiently waiting for him to get over his overly affected edge-of-crying singing style. [2]

12 years into this band's history lads. might be time you pack it in, there's gotta be other things to complain about?

Patiently waiting for him to get over his overly affected edge-of-crying singing style. [3]

I used to love this band. Sister Cities was annoying in the music, production and lyrics were probably his worst. I'm scared for their next album and the fact that they had to do this acoustic shit again after the success of the first one kinda makes me feel like they're out of ideas. Don't get me wrong, i like the acoustic EP, but I'm not sure if I want a part 2

Color me stoked. I love these guys.

This'll be great

Patiently waiting for him to get over his overly affected edge-of-crying singing style. [4]

@Rowan: Yeah, but he didn't used to do it pre-Sister Cities. I mean he did a little in NCTH, but it wasn't all the time and it had its place.

Oh no @Rowan this is a new complaint from me. Wasn't a problem before Sister Cities. They went full-on emo with that album.

ah yes, the old 'emo-as-an-insult' argument

Sister Cities had its problems (the production, mostly) but Dan's voice wasn't one of them

also I am so, so hype for acoustic Hoodie Weather, low-key one of my favorite TWY songs

Patiently waiting for him to get over his overly affected edge-of-crying singing style. [5]

No Closer to Heaven might be my favorite album of theirs but holy hell was Sister Cities leaning in the wrong direction. The lyrics weren't awful, but were a definite step down and the vocals were downright distracting on most of the tracks in the way that his voice sounds brittle and wobbly. I get that they are an emotionally evocative group, but it was way too much all of the time.

I think there were enough good ideas on that record to show that they aren't completely out of gas, but it was such an immensely disappointing release from a band that seemingly only got better with age. I am eager to hear what's next for them and hope it's a nice course-correction. I think this EP has a pretty slick selection of tracks and am glad the immensely underrated Cul-de-sac is getting some shine

"The lyrics weren't awful, but were a definite step down"

hard pass, lyrics are definitely a strength on this album.

As for the vocals, that's a question of taste. Soupy does overuse that trick but he's still quite a good singer

I personally think Sister Cities' biggest flaw was production, everything else was quite well done. Vocals like ProjectFreak said are a question of taste, but nine times out of ten someone can hate a vocalist while others praise the same one. The vocals fit the music and lyrics.

I don't have a problem with emo. I am a fan of emo. But the vocals in Sister Cities sounded too deliberate. He is a good singer, but the decision he made to pretend like he is crying on every song was not a decision that resonated with me.

i gotta agree about the vocals, i like the album a lot but his vocal delivery does seem very played up through a lot of it

"I personally think Sister Cities' biggest flaw was production"

The production of Raining in Kyoto's chorus specifically is an absolute abomination. Which is a shame because the song is a banger.

I think in general the emo vocal delivery works really well when he belts out the choruses in this album. It's when he is singing softly in the verses that it makes me cringe. And there are a lot more soft verses on this album compared to previous albums.

I went to college with one of the members from this band. They're all really cool people, and while I'm not wild about their music...it's good to see they're still doing their thing.

I remember first hearing the chorus to Kyoto and feeling almost personally offended hahaha, like “They couldn’t think that this was the best it could sound, right?” The production was crisp on TGG too, I don’t know what happened

I had a completely different experience hearing the chorus to Raining in Kyoto for the first time. I absolutely love that song, and the chorus in particular really gets to me.

The production sounds like they went full on Ulver and recorded Sister Cities in a forest on a 4 track

sister cities was meh