PunBB

I find the "new sound" lacks identity. There's something about the feel of the songs on each album, from Up To Here to Phantom Power, that characterizes each album. Songs from different albums don't sound "right" when mixed. There was continuity, like the songs came froma certain time and place. With Music at Work, even though I like most of the songs and consider it a far better album than IVL, I found the continuitywas destroyed. All of the songs on that record could have come from 14 others, there's no "cohesiveness". It felt like the band had tried too hard to write songs, like they got a riff and had to build it and make it into something, and the production turned it into something else. IVL is probably the worst offender - there is no systemic outlay, no common ground, between the songs (either thematically or musically). The quality of the songs themselves has suffered a bit, I feel, but the one thing I like least about IVL is it doesn't feel like a whole album of flowing songs, it feels overproduced and on the whole, incoherent.

Boy, it's hard to put that stuff into words. It's just opinions. I am now and forever will be a Hip fan, I'm not just hanging around to bash them or anything! I just hope they return to form with the next record.