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All Get Out

Nobody Likes A Quitter

Written by: TL on 14/01/2017 13:48:16

When US indie rockers All Get Out debuted in '11 with "The Season", it was an album that showed considerable similarity to the critically acclaimed colleagues in Manchester Orchestra, giving them a run for their money with particularly brilliant tracks like "Lucky Bastard" and "Let Me Go" that are still worth returning to today. Frontman Nathan Hussey declared he was to take a break from the band soon after, however, focusing instead on a solo record, following which, word of All Get Out sort of faded for a while.

In 2015 they came back, though, with an EP called "Movement" that's was recently followed by a sophomore album produced by none other than Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra himself, guaranteeing the listening public another dose of indie rock with a noticeably southern, Americana twang. At a glance an exciting proposition, but on closer inspection one hindered by a few issues, which we'll get to. The collaboration with Hull has seemingly drawn the band even more in his own band's direction, meaning that songs often have a more direct drive forward and similarly booming guitar melodies ringing through the atmosphere. Hussey's way of singing also reminds you of Hull as well as of Nathan Hardy of Georgia's Microwave.

The problem is that while the band's style, and Hussey's vocal performance in a particular, are good bases to work from, it's rare on the album's ten songs that you really feel like the tracks make it pop, in the sense where you hear something that instantly grabs the ear and makes you want to go back and listen again. Thinking of "Lucky Bastard" for instance, which is a song you noticed easily, remembering the signatures after a few spins, and will likely want to hear any time you come to think of it, you're waiting in vain for that as you go through the tracklist on "Nobody Likes A Quitter".

This could make you wonder if Hussey and the band have been in doubt about whether to make the record in the first place. The album is called "Nobody Likes A Quitter", after all, which is something to think about, considering Hussey sort of "quit" the band. The singer remarks with a sense of puzzlement that "People still listen to Movement" in "Home", and in "Now You Got It", he goes on to remark - with a note of bitterness that sounds a bit Conor Oberst-ish - that "For every product I invent, comes another prodigy with cooler sins, and now that I can see it, I'll bow out and not repeat it".

Coincidentally, this is one of the mellower tracks on the record, where the romp of guitars is actually given a break, which, alongside the relatively dynamic single "Get My Cut" and the acoustic closer "Wait List", mark some parts where you're more reminded of Hussey's and the group's actual qualities. It makes you wonder whether there's been some doubt internally about what the band is actually good at and what listeners want: Is it the powerful Manchester Orchestra-ish guitar playing, or is it the more subtle and dynamic style where the guitars are deployed more carefully to frame the narratives? Maybe if "Nobody Likes A Quitter" had relied more on the latter it would make an impression that pulled you back more strongly, but that's not the impression you get this time around.

Download: Get My Cut, Now You Got It, Wait List
For The Fans Of: Manchester Orchestra, Microwave, Frightened Rabbit
Listen: facebook.com/allgetout

Release date 28.10.2016
Bad Timing Records