Matt's picks Sides Lean Year SKU: WV217LP Barcode: 0843563149744 23.00 £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Western Vinyl Released Date: 2nd September 2022 Buying Format: 1LP Add to basket Reserve Add to your Wishlist Video Description Product Info Alverson has released five records as Spokane, and four as Drunk on the label Jagjaguwar. There is a moment on Sides, the new album from Richmond, Virginia-based duo Lean Year, in which a hospital room floor is filled with white chrysanthemums. This imagery, based on an opiate-induced hallucination experienced by vocalist Emilie Rex’s mother as she recovered from surgery, is a perfect encapsulation of the band’s second album: dreamlike and beautiful, yet burdened with cold, stark reality. Sides is a harrowing journey through realms of grief and memory, a meditation woven into a tapestry of synth pads, woodwinds, and Rex’s instantly recognizable voice. The duo of Rex and Rick Alverson who also works as a film director (The Mountain, Entertainment, The Comedy) originally set out to write an album about conflict, but during the writing and recording process, they were confronted with a number of personal tragedies. Alverson lost both of his parents in rapid succession, Rex’s mother received a cancer diagnosis, and the couple’s beloved family dog, Orca, died. These events transformed the album into an exploration of loss an attempt at processing the painful, complex, and private emotions that bubble to the surface when confronted with death. “We thought we’d do a concept album called Sides where we could reflect on all of the division in the world, and some in our own families, but then COVID transformed everything / everyone, and we suffered our own specific losses. The record became about loss and grief,” Rex explains. “In this way, the title Sides was still appropriate: our individual grief and collective grief, the margins of before and after, the act and feeling of during and enduring. It felt like straddling a threshold between two opposing sides the moment before conflict and the moment after it passes, life and death, the act of living and the memory of the act. Grief feels like a contention between what you knew and what you now know, and often both feel real and unreal at once.” Sides produced by Alverson alongside Erik Hall (In Tall Buildings) and featuring contributions from Elliot Bergman (Nomo, Wild Belle) and Joseph Shabason (Destroyer, The War on Drugs) has a distinctly cinematic quality, perhaps due in part to Alverson’s other career.Moments of jazz, slowcore, and dirgelike R&B find their way into the sorrowful, ambient suite, lulling the listener into a state of calm while the lyrics speak of ghosts, childhood, and mortality. Despite the gravity of the subject matter, Sides succeeds in mastering a balancing act between pathos and pop. Each song is indelible and haunting, with melodies that have the kind of broad appeal reminiscent of Karen Dalton, Aldous Harding, and FKA twigs. “Lean Year have managed an impressive debut.” – PITCHFORK “There’s such beautiful atmosphere to the record…It’s really stunning.” – NPR MUSIC “…a gorgeous piece of ghostly folk-rock.” – STEREOGUM Artist Lean Year Genre Rock And Pop Label Western Vinyl Buying Options 1LP Format 1LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings 01 Legs 02 Nitetime 03 End 04 Trouble With Being Warm 05 Panes 06 Bend 07 Bad Woman 08 Marriage of Heaven and Hell 09 Home Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Lean Year and more from Rock And Pop Nearly New View Product Quick View Lean Year Sides Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo | Western Vinyl | 1LP Released 31st January 2024 £15.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Lean Year Sides £15.00 Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock / Emo Label: Western Vinyl SKU: nn280077 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 31st January 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Crystal Antlers Nothing Is Real Rock And Pop | Innovative Leisure | 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 18th October 2013 £15.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Crystal Antlers Nothing Is Real £15.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Innovative Leisure SKU: IL2016V Formats: 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 18th October 2013 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Various Artists / Soul Jazz Records Presents TV Sound And Image: British Television, Film And Library Composers 1955-78 Volume 2 Rock And Pop | Soul Jazz | 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 25th June 2012 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Various Artists / Soul Jazz Records Presents TV Sound And Image: British Television, Film And Library Composers 1955-78 Volume 2 £16.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Soul Jazz SKU: SJRLP2572 Formats: 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 25th June 2012 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nearly New View Product Quick View Poco A Good Feelin’ To Know Poco Americana / Country | Epic | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 28th January 2021 £14.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Poco A Good Feelin’ To Know Poco £14.00 Genre: Americana / Country Label: Epic SKU: nn217867 Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 28th January 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Mumford & Sons Forever (Garage Version) Rock And Pop | Island | 7", Coloured Vinyl Released 31st July 2020 £9.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Mumford & Sons Forever (Garage Version) £9.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Island SKU: 0717219 Formats: 7", Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 31st July 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Redd Kross Teen Babes From Monsanto Rock And Pop | Merge Records | 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 4th December 2018 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Redd Kross Teen Babes From Monsanto £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Merge Records SKU: MRG646LP Formats: 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 4th December 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Foreigner Head Games Foreigner (Atlantic 75 Series) Rock And Pop | Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) | 180g, 2LP, 45rpm, Gatefold Sleeve Released 25th December 2025 £75.00 Pre Order View Pre/Back Orders Foreigner Head Games Foreigner (Atlantic 75 Series) £75.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) SKU: AAPA 068-45 Formats: 180g, 2LP, 45rpm, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 25th December 2025 Read More Pre Order View Pre/Back Orders Nearly New View Product Quick View Who, The By Numbers Rock And Pop | Polydor | 1LP Released 15th February 2024 £14.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Who, The By Numbers £14.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Polydor SKU: nn280985 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 15th February 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View A.T.R.O.X. 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