The Valley of Vision

by Manchester Orchestra

Overview

There's a feeling on Manchester Orchestra's 2023 EP, The Valley of Vision, that the band has been through some tough times and need to sit with their feelings for a while. It's a cathartic, deeply ruminative vibe that lead singer/songwriter Andy Hull and the Atlanta band have been cultivating since at least 2014's Cope. However, where that album crackled with grayscale emo electric guitar riffage, each subsequent album, from 2017's A Black Mile to the Surface to 2021's The Million Masks of God, has grown increasingly atmospheric, textural, and internalized. Hull and guitarist Robert McDowell brought a similarly subdued palette to their instrumental soundtrack to 2016's indie film Swiss Army Man, layering keyboards, guitars, and wordless vocal harmonies with a painterly precision. The Valley of Vision completes this transition, as they craft six deeply felt songs that feel like they are working through the five stages of grief. These are contemplative anthems in which Hull frames his diaristic lyrics in refracted underwater piano, keyboards, and bass that float like the Northern Lights, and both electronic and analog percussion grooves that percolate like stars at night. It's unclear if The Valley of Vision takes name from rector and theological tutor Arthur Bennet's similarly titled anthology of Puritan prayers and meditations, but even if it isn't, the connection could be made. Tracks like "Capital Karma," "They Way," and "Quietly" feel like prayers spoken by someone with a deep sense of guilt, pain, and a yearning to free themselves from all of it. However, it's not all darkness and just like the process of working through one's grief, there is the promise of hope and healing. The album ends with the epic "Rear View," in which Hull sings "The fire in the rear view is smaller the further we get." The song, as with all of The Valley of Vision, takes you on a journey from solitary confessions made in a dark room to a wailing wall of bright pop catharsis. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	04/07/2023
Label:	Loma Vista
UPC:	0888072446779
Rank:	39231

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Manchester Orchestra   Primary Artist
Robert McDowell   Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Andy Hull   Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Percussion
Andy Prince   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Tim Very   Drums,Percussion
Ethan Gruska   Piano
Caroline Swon   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Robert McDowell   Composer,Producer,Recording,Programming,Group Member,Recording Producer
Dan Wilson   Composer
Dan Hannon   Engineer,Musical Producer,Additional Production
Danny Parker   Composer
Paul Blakemore   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Andy Hull   Composer,Producer,Group Member,Recording Producer
Andy Prince   Group Member
Mike Dempsey   Photography
Catherine Marks   Mixing,Engineer,Musical Producer,Additional Production
Ryan Whalley   A&R
Tim Very   Group Member
Ethan Gruska   Musical Producer,Additional Production
Christopher Leckie   Design
Dowell Gandy   Assistant Engineer
Kyle Metcalfe   Musical Producer,Additional Production
Jamie Martens   Composer,Engineer,Musical Producer,Assistant Engineer,Additional Production