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Nr : OM0022 Label : Old Omens │██ │█▓ ------------------------------------------------------------------ │██ │▓█ Release date: 2020-02-06 Retail date: 2020-02-07 │██ │██░   ▄▄▄  ▄▄      ▄▄  ▄██▄  ▄▄▄ ▐██▓░ ░█▀▐▌ ▄█▓▌  ▌ ▐██▓▐██▓▐░▐█▀█ ▐▓█▀███▄▄▄░ ▐█░▓ ▐██ ▐ █▌▐▌██ ██░ █ ██░▓  ░▄▄▄███▀█▓▐│ ▐█▀█▓▄▀▄▀▓▌█▀▓▄░  ▀██▄▐██ ▐ █▌█ ██ █▌  █ ▀███▓ ░▄▓▀▀▀ ░▓█▀█▐│ ▀ ▌▐▌▀▓▓▀ ▀   ▄█▌ ██ ▌ ▐█▌ █▌ ▐░▐█    ▄█  ▀ │██│ ▀▄▀▄▒░▓ ▓▀██▓  ▀▀▀   ▀  ▀▓  ▀█▓ ▓▀█▀   │██ ░ ▀▄▀▄                   █████▄▄      │██ ▐▌▐▌                   ▀░   ▓▀▄ ▄▓▄ ██ ▓▀▄▀                ▄▄▀      ▐▌  ▀  │██               █▓░     ▄█▀     ▓█              ░▀▄▄▄▄███░       ▓█                ▀▀▀▀▀          ██ ██ ██ ██ 1. Harder Dreams 4:23 ██ 2. A Thought Is Just a Passing Train 5:24 ██ 3. East October 3:45 ██ 4. I'm Learning How to Tell Myself the Truth 3:18 ██ 5. Two Stars 1:21 ██ 6. Terrestrial 4:19 ██ 7. In Times Between 3:18 ██ 8. When My Fever Breaks 3:41 ██ 9. I Always Let You Burn Me to the Ground 4:35 ██ 10. For Ichiro 1:42 ██ 11. Let Me Be Understood 5:11 ██ ██ ██ ██ █▓ Total Runtime: 40:57 █▓ █░                 ▄             █                ▐██            ▓                ▓█▌░           ░                   ▀███████▓▀▀▀       ▓██▓░       ▄        ██▓  ▄▄   ▄▄▄▓ ░▓██▓ ░▀████▓      ██▌ ▄█▀█ ▐██  ██▀█ ▐█▀█▌ ░▓████▀░ ░ ░▀▀▄░ ▐█▄ ███▌▐██▓▐ ▐█▌ ▐█░▐█ ██░█░ ░▓█▐▀▀▄▀▄ ▄ ░ ▓ ▐█░▐▌██▓██▌░▐ ▐█▌ ██▓▀  █▌▄   ▀ ▐▌▐ █ ▓███ ██ ██▌ █ ▐█▌ ██▓░ ▐▀▀▀█▌ ░▒▄▀▄▀ █░ ░██▌ ██ ▐██ ▌░ █▌░ ▀█▄▄▓  ██▓ ▄▀▄▀ ░ │█▓   ▀   ▀▓ ▀▀▀   ▐█▓      ▄█▀   ▐▌▐▌ ▄ █▓                 ▀             ▀▄▀▄ ▀▓▀ ██ ░▄ ██│ Over the last half a dozen years or so, John MorelandÆs honesty has ██│ stunned usûûand stung. As he put hurts we didnÆt even realize we had or ██│ shared into his songs, we sang along. And we felt better. But there has ██│ always been far more to Moreland than sad songs. Today, his earthbound ██│ poetry remains potent, but in addition to his world-weary candor, ██│ MorelandÆs music smolders with gentle wisdom, flashes of wit and joy, ██│ and compassion. And once again, as we listen, we feel better. ██│ ██│ ôI canÆt dress myself up and be some folk singer character that IÆm not ██│ really,ö Moreland says. ôI figured, I canÆt dress up these songs and ██│ try to sell them that way. All I can do is be me.ö ██│ ██│ Out February 2020, his latest album LP5 proves John Moreland has gotten ██│ really good at being John Morelandûûthank God. A masterful display of ██│ songwriting by one of todayÆs best young practitioners of the art form, ██│ LP5 is MorelandÆs finest record to date. The albumÆs experimentations ██│ with instrumentation and sounds capture an artist whose confidence has ██│ grown, all without abandoning the hardy roots rock bed and the ██│ lyrics-first approach MorelandÆs work demands. ôI feel like just this ██│ year, in the past few months, IÆve reached a point where I feel like I ██│ know what IÆm doing here now,ö he says. ôAnd I feel comfortable with ██│ it.ö ██│ ██│ There was a time when Moreland thought LP5 may not happen. Wary of ██│ expectations and his cemented status as a writerÆs writer and critical ██│ darling, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Moreland found writing difficult at ██│ bestûûand completely undesirable at worst. ôIÆm hesitant to talk about ██│ it because I know people donÆt want to hear some dude complaining that ██│ his dream of being a successful musician came true, but there are ██│ things about it that you donÆt expect that can mess you up,ö Moreland ██│ says. ôOne of the results of that was I really didnÆt want to write ██│ songs for a couple of years.ö He pauses and sighs. ôOne of the ways I ██│ got back into liking music again was to let go of the idea that every ██│ time IÆd go mess around with an instrument, IÆd have to be writing a ██│ really good song. I just gave myself the freedom to go into my little ██│ music room every day and mess around with different instruments and ██│ different sounds. It doesnÆt have to be anything. It doesnÆt have to ██│ result in anything.ö ██│ ██│ Moreland points to that liberating rediscovery as a major influence on ██│ the sonic choices that shape LP5. There is no grand or alarming ██│ stylistic departure hereûûjust different textures and background layers ██│ that add muscly new dimensions to MorelandÆs heretofore instrumentally ██│ sparse recordings. The record also marks MorelandÆs first time working ██│ with a producer. He chose Matt Pence. ôI wouldnÆt say that he pushed me ██│ into trying anything that I didnÆt already want to do, but I think I ██│ came in with a lot of ideas that I found interesting but didnÆt know ██│ how to execute. Matt was great at expanding on those things,ö Moreland ██│ says. ██│ ██│ For Moreland, falling back in love with music also coincided with an ██│ even more personal change. ôThis past year, IÆve been getting into ██│ mindfulness and being kinder to myself,ö he says. ôI was really on that ██│ wave when I started writing these songs. I guess it shows.ö ██│ ██│ It does showûûbeautifully. Album opener ôHarder Dreamsö is a clear-eyed ██│ confession, not of wrongdoing, but of disbelief in a life defined by ██│ unworthiness and threatened by damnation. Echoing percussive punches ██│ make the music sound like a transmitted message, fighting its way ██│ through the atmosphere. Punctuated by keys and fuzzy guitar, ██│ ôTerrestrialö picks up on the same idea, and delivers the kind of ██│ killer line weÆve come to expect from Moreland: ôAs a child I repented ██│ my nature, till as a man, I repented my past.ö ██│ ██│ ôIt goes back to being kind to yourself,ö Moreland says. ôPart of that ██│ process for me was realizing all the ways I have been taught or learned ██│ to be cruel to myself or to hate myself through my life. A big source ██│ of that was church for me. They teach you that youÆre bad and you have ██│ to repent for what you are. Now, I feel like IÆve grown up, and I ██│ repent for thatûûbecause that was a sin against myself.ö ██│ ██│ Slow-burning blues song ôA Thought is Just a Passing Trainö quells ██│ worry with the truth: ôI had a thought about darkness. / A thoughtÆs ██│ just a passing train,ö Moreland sings. His gravelly voice, capable of ██│ both hushed devastation and rock-anthem growls, sounds more powerful ██│ than ever. ôIÆm Learning How to Tell Myself the Truthö is both wry and ██│ gorgeousûûa rare combination Moreland is uniquely suited to perfect. ôI ██│ Always Let You Burn Me to the Groundö unfurls into a plea and ██│ admission, while harmonica-rich ôLet Me Be Understoodö looks backward ██│ with new eyes and embraces enlightenment. Two instrumentals offer ██│ meditative pauses: ôTwo Starsö plays like a lilting acoustic guitar ██│ lullaby, while ôFor Ichiroö breaks with expectations to revel in ██│ mesmerizing keys and trills. ██│ ██│ Moreland wrote ôWhen My Fever Breaksö for his wife. He started the song ██│ when the two were dating, then finished it three years later. The track ██│ is a tribute to the trust and comfort that come with being loved well. ██│ ôIt took me a long time to write it,ö he says. ôIt was hard to figure ██│ out, how do I write the kind of love song that I am comfortable with?ö ██│ ██│ Achingly beautiful ôIn the Times Betweenö was inspired by MorelandÆs ██│ friend Chris Porter, a singer-songwriter who died on the road in 2016. ██│ Moreland wrote the song about two weeks after Porter passed, when the ██│ pain was still heavy and constant. Line after line captures moments ██│ PorterÆs presence is feltûûas well as his absence. ██│ ██│ With its winsome singalong chorus and big organ chords, ôEast Octoberö ██│ is a striking highlight. The songÆs title nods to Porter, whose song ██│ ôEast Decemberö reframed time as progress from east to west. MorelandÆs ██│ song asks tough questions with tender persistence. ██│ ██│ When pressed about the hard-won wisdom and peace that seem to define ██│ LP5, Moreland is characteristically both direct and humble. ôI ██│ definitely am wiser than I was five years agoûûI guess anybody would ██│ hope to be wiser than they were five years ago,ö he says with a laugh. ██│ ôBut I do feel more mellow. Settled. I donÆt feel as antsy or think ██│ IÆve got to prove myself anymore. I feel really comfortable and free to ██│ just do what I want to do.ö ██ │▓█ │▓█ │██│ ██│ URL: http://johnmoreland.net ██│ ██│     ██│        │██░  █▄     │██▓░        ▓███▄▄▄  ▐██▓     ░▓██▓ │▓█▀███▄▄▄░   ─────▐─────▐───▐─░▌───▄─────▐██▄──── ░▓████▀░ │█▀█▓▄▀▄▀▓▌█▀▓▄░  ─▄───│─────▌────▌─▐──▀▓▀───▐░▓▓███── ▓█▐▀▀▄▀▄ ▄ ░ ▌▐▌▀▓▓▀ ▀░ ▀▓▀──▌────▐─────▐─────────▐▓─────▐──  ▀ ▐▌▐ ▀▄▀▄▒░▓ ────▐─────├────▄█▌───────▄▌─────▐───  ░▒▄▀▄▀ ░ ▀▄▀▄ ─▄▄▄▌───▄▓▌───▐██▌──-███▄▌─────▐░───  ▄▀▄▀ ░ ▄ ▐▌▐▌ ███▓ ▐███░   ░▀▀▀▀  ▄▄▓▄▌  ▄   ▐▌▐▌ ▄ ▀▓▀ ▓▀▄▀       ▀▀▓  2 0 2 0    ▓ ▐███▓  ▀▓▀  ▀▄▀▄ ▀▓▀    ▐  ▓▓      ░▄