7. May 2025
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Media Review

Manchester Orchestra – The Valley of Vision EP

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Manchester Orchestra - The Valley of Vision

Manchester Orchestra - The Valley of Vision
3.8

Rating

 3.8/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Nice instrumental and vocal performance
  • Interesting plots

Manchester Orchestra are soon about to celebrate their 20th band anniversary. The indie-rock band has quite a large number of releases already. On 10th March 2023, they add a new EP to their discography, The Valley of Vision. A good opportunity to have a listen to their music.

 

Manchester Orchestra – About The Artists

Manchester Orchestra are an indie-rock band from Atlanta. They are already active since 2004. The lead vocalist, rhythm guitar and piano player is Andy Hull, who is the only founding member of the band. Lead guitarist and keyboard player Robert McDowell joined the Manchester Orchestra in 2005. The other two band members, Tim Very (drums, percussion) and Andy Prince (bass) joined the band in the early 2010’s. While the 2006 debut album I’m Like A Virgin Losing a Child did not make it to the charts, the following 2009 Mean Everything to Nothing was peaked already 8th in the US Alternative and 11th in the US Rock charts. You by the way might know Wolves at Night from their debut – it has been featured on the NHL 08 video game.

The band grew steadily and nowadays has a quite good fan base in Europe. Their previous album release, The Millions Masks of God, was a Top 5 album in the US Rock and US Alternative Charts, but also ranked in the United Kingdom or Switzerland. On top of six studio albums so far, The Valley of Vision is already the eighth EP release (including one live EP) by the band.

 

Manchester Orchestra – The Valley of Vision – Track by Track

The six track EP lasts 25 minutes.

1. Capital Karma

The slow, very atmospheric Capital Karma is the only song Manchester Orchestra released before the EP. Very nice recording, which is featuring some more energy and surprising moments towards the end. Very intense listen.

2. The Way

Similar to the opener, the voice of Andy Hull is the heart of the track. The heartbeat, however, is the gentle bed of instrumentals and the steady rhythm, which is driving the song. Very nice listen.

3. Quietly

So far, Manchester Orchestra did not really present “loud” songs – so I guessed that the almost five minute track Quietly won’t change that. I was not wrong… At least for the first half of the song, which is presenting a rather dreaming, almost a bit of melancholic sound. However, the song is not quiet at all thereafter and drives towards a loud, almost orchestral climax towards the end of the song.

4. Letting Go

Letting Go feels very pop-ish. Again, the rhythm feels monotonous and drives the distorted vocals and electro-pop alike sound. The chorus stays in your mind and turns the track into one of the best listens of this EP.

5. Lose You Again

With the strumming guitars in the background, Manchester Orchestra even introduce a touch of folk music to their 2023 EP. The song is a beautiful melody which is still sounding like the Atlanta band – not only due to Hull’s characteristic voice.

6. Rear View

The closing Rear View is almost six minutes long. The song comes with a similar plot like Quietly: just when you felt the track might be a bit too boring, having rather a slow and vocal-centric touch, the Georgians blow your mind with a dramatic finale right before you want to hit the Skip button. Quite a break, but a welcome switch.

 

Manchester Orchestra – The Valley of Vision – Spotify

Here is The Valley of Vision on Spotify:

 

Manchester Orchestra – The Valley of Vision – My View

I like listening to The Valley of Vision. However, it does not blow my mind. It is having a good style, nice instrumental skills and some interesting dramatic plots. A good listen.

 

 

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