Review Summary: A Black Mile to the Surface is a shining example of storytelling like never before.
Sometimes getting what you want isn’t always what you need. Many of us learn this lesson as children and are constantly reminded as adults. Sometimes needs turn to wants and wants to needs, but in the case of Manchester Orchestra, something else happened.
Cope was the first time in the bands history they released an okay album. They were riding high after
Simple Math left fans and critics speechless, but
Cope merely met expectations. It didn’t go above and beyond like previous efforts, the album just existed. The over-produced album left fans questioning if Manchester hit a lull, or worse, ran out of ideas. Andy Hull responded by promising a simpler more efficient album, a promise he’s said for years. That’s when
A Black Mile to the Surface was challenged to be the least Manchester album made.
A Black Mile to the Surface is a lush experience filled with a winding path through the mines of Lead, South Dakota. Themes of marriage, fatherhood, and love are juxtaposed with a side quest of characters living in a broken family. The warm nostalgic atmosphere is matched perfectly with layered acoustic guitars, shout-along vocals, and digital sampling. Inspired by Hull’s work on the film
Swiss Army Man, Manchester Orchestra shoots in a cinematic direction and give
Black Mile a dramatic feel. The songs play more like scenes from a movie and spend time developing characters, scenery, and motivations. The ambitious work displayed in
A Black Mile is more than enough to intrigue listeners, but the effort doesn’t stop here.
The stories of
Black Mile are perhaps the most personal and grounded work they’ve accomplished so far. “I already know that I don't already know,” enters ‘The Sunshine’ with a picked groove. The bright Spanish tone carries a ballad to Mayzie, Andy Hull’s daughter, as he proclaims his love to her. “You are the sunshine,” he bolsters, “You are the moonlight.” Mayzie is one of the main subjects of
A Black Mile. Fatherhood takes a profound stance in the stories told throughout. ‘The Maze’ and ‘The Sunshine,’ respectively, are the two solely dedicated to her. The rest of
Mile takes us on a winding path through the mountainous Lead, South Dakota. A miner from a broken family brings the album in focus. Mining is used both as a metaphor and plot device to describe the emotional state of the character. “Black hills, the colly/Wasn't really dangerous for us/We just catch you coughing,” Hull exclaims in ‘The Gold,’ as the characters health and relationship worsens due to the mine.
“The lights were low enough, you guessed/You swapped your conscience with your fathers medication,” Hull mumbles as time stops in ‘The Alien.’ The layered sound eases its way through the lowly atmosphere as our character attempts suicide for the first time. Failing to cope with their family trauma, the character darts out into traffic and hopes for the worst. “And when you got to Pleasant Hill,” he says, “you forced the traffic to erase your family demons.” The situation reaches its climax in ‘The Grocery’ as the character shoots shoppers before attempting once more. “Said, "In truth I don't really want to talk about it"/Christmas lights dangled sadly from the table in the operating room,” enters the gruesome scene of ‘The Wolf.’ The digital riff rumbles in the background as we examine the aftermath of the shooting. “In the blink of an eye there's a hole in your belly/Your body recoils ironically into the family planning aisle,” describes the shooter as he blasts a pregnant woman as the messy layered riff blasts against your skull. The story resolves as the character dies and witnesses the afterlife he’s longed for.
Since the story is told in a non-liner structure, most of the songs are taken out of context. ‘The Mistake’ flashes back to the car accident where the character doesn’t want to die alone, hence ‘The Grocery’ prompting a mass shooting. Other songs throughout the album, like ‘The Part’ and ‘The Silence’ also tell the story from different perspectives while also filling in some plot holes here and there. The lyrics are spot-on and very immersive in the way they’re told. The way the album presents one life beginning [Mayzie] and another ending [the anonymous shooter] juxtaposes the meaning of life and fatherhood. Andy Hull narrates how he desires to set the best example for her while the character longs for the same fulfillment. He’s failed God, his family, and his father and believes death to be the only way out. The bleak double-ended story is immersive to the point of leaving listeners hanging from line to line.
A Black Mile to the Surface suffers from few if any problems. There’s nothing wrong with the structure of the album. Each song is organized cohesively. The worst thing listeners can do is skip over songs on
Mile. While the album takes songs out of context, it’s for the purpose of revisiting them later to reflect on the albums entirety. The best way to listen from open to close. The production seems to be the most controversial element of
A Black Mile. Andy Hull promised to deliver an under-produced album, which is anything but. In an effort to employ ‘less-is-more,’ Manchester Orchestra applies production where it counts. We’re still treated to the usual shtick listed earlier (shout-a-longs, layers, etc.), but they’re used tastefully and amplify the emotion. It ultimately doesn’t matter in the end, yet there are still those who complain about the layered chorus of ‘The Alien’ or the sampling in ‘The Wolf.’ Manchester Orchestra is no Elliott Smith. The album wouldn’t work well with little-to-no production, especially as cinematic as it’s laid out.
The story may get a bit choppy. There’s a lot of perspective flipping in the songs. We transfer from the point of view of the main character, the town, and Andy Hull. Since we’re looking at Mayzie’s life beginning in comparison to another’s ending, Hull interrupts the flow between events to remind listeners of what’s going on during the sequences. This isn’t necessarily bad as, in real life at least, good things happen while bad things occur. This will be problematic for those who aren’t keen on details, but it’s easy for casuals to get thrown off by ‘The Sunshine’ taking place between ‘The Alien’ and ‘The Grocery.’ ‘The Parts’ does the same thing by overviewing the birth of Mayzie while ‘The Mistake’ and ‘The Silence’ overview Lead’s reaction to the mass shooting as well as the shooter’s family life being ruined in the outcome. There’s a lot going on in this album cinematically to say the least.
Overall,
A Black Mile to the Surface is an amazing album and a musical achievement for Manchester Orchestra. It’s one of the best albums from 2017. The record is rich, captivating, and immersive. There’s a lot to examine here. It’s a lot darker than most indie albums tend to be. It’s not as pretentious or overly-produced compared to
Cope. There’s nothing bad I can say about the album. It’s a different animal than anything they’ve done before. I think Manchester fans would get a lot out of
Mile if they look at it through a narrative lens than that of an album. It really doesn’t feel like an album. It’s more like a movie than anything. I’d recommend this to indie fans obviously. This is a good concept albums for those who like story driven music. Alternative fans might enjoy the album as well. Emo fans, dare I say, may even find some solace here. It’s not melodramatic to their liking, but it’s got a very grim outlook on the events going on.
A Black Mile ranks highly in my top 2017 albums. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. It should have received more credit than it did initially. All in all, I think it’s time you guys walked a mile to the surface.
Standout Tracks
Everything.
