Chromatics - Dear Tommy (2018)

cherry is def the best of the recent songs, i don’t like blue girl at all

i assume a version of the former will be on this, maybe re-recorded, maybe not. either way jesus, just put out a collection of distinct songs in a beautiful package and take my money already

Cherry ep definitely up there with their best work.
Nice Fleetwood Mac reference in one of the songs too.

Blue girl is alright but at their best chromatics wash over me like some kind of detached sedative, at worst the same but boring

Apparently it’s out in the fall

$3 cds, $20 vinyl, if you've ordered from their store. Every order, I've had something bonus added (unexpected additional cd or stickers). Nice of them, adding to the value.

That’s super cheap. They’re definitely a band that respects their fans in re to shipping and whatnot

It helps that their CDs are in cardboard slipcases, which keeps their weight down. But yeah I had a v good experience ordering directly from them, even shipping to Canada which normally hurts

Further to this thread

I can't keep POLLING all of the time - Chromatics EPs

Please feel free to vote

yes their shipping is amazing and they always throw in freebies, the vinyl is cheap and the quality is outstanding.

The real tragedy is that Glass Candy's Body Work still hasn't come out.

^otm

Black walls still strikes me as a weird choice of a comeback single. Which may make a good thread - low key comeback singles from popular or cult hit bands. Even by chromatics standards it is fairly muted and dreary - guitars reminiscent of that one instrumental on treasure by Cocteau twins. Remixes on the EP provide more ambient versions and a harder hitting beat but this is one for the faithful really

X-post yeah what happened to Glass Candy? Warm In the Winter was a great song even though Air France commercial sorta ruined it. I hope they all got paid from that and the main guy didn’t take it all

What is the consensus here on their best record?
My fave is night drive. So perfect for the winding down of the sun into night, perfectly named. Some suspiria vibes on this record as well - plus tick of the clock is a massive banger

All their records are 80+ minutes. Functioning as mini movies. Not surprised lynch picked them up, “candy” on kill for love seems relevant to that. On “there’s a light out on the horizon” they sample a voicemail password sequence. These segments add filmic layers to their music; narratives within the dream pop. I would be interested in a thread repping similar records to Kill For Love - the first 6 tracks are their most pop-centric material (aside from Cherry later on) - polished production, new order cribbing riffs, then the record dovetails into ambient movie score territory - the first six tracks are a ruse. This is a score not a pop record, but it does pick up a bit in the latter half (92 mins)

the whole aesthetic for a while now has been soundtracks/film, with the typography mimicking movie posters etc. Love it.

The double album of Jonny Jewel music written for but not all used for Twin Peaks is amazing and creepy.

^ is that available to purchase?

Yeah a lot if their records recycle motifs as well, like riffs from other songs or Alt versions. They’re definitely a band for obsessive nerds

yes, it's called "Themes for Television". Should still be available, it came out just a few months ago.

oh thank you for that heads up akm!! so stoked

The presale code for their tour is "DEARTOMMY" so I guess it's coming out soon-ish?

hahahahahaha ok

a thread for Italians Do It Better

we'll see it in 2023

Hey, at least they're touring again.

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/closer-to-grey/1481815287

looks like a new album is out today, but it's not Dear Tommy lol

weird, not available in the US (at least for me); that link works but when I try to open it in itunes it's not there.

it's out tomorrow

I hope that's not _that_ "Sound of Silence" though it probably is

i've never been let down by any of their covers

Otm. 'Wishing Well' could be Terence Trent d'Arby's and they'd still pull it off!

I mean same, I just really don't need another version of that song in my life, and I feel like I can generate their version in my head pretty accurately without having to actually hear it

i hope they cover the disturbed cover

anyway I'm just glad we're getting an all new record and not just a cobbled together thing of already released tracks

I hope that's not _that_ "Sound of Silence" though it probably is

it is.

their running up that hill cover is very good so I trust their cover of this

that's a weird take.

for a start, The Chromatics are evidently fully capable of making bad and boring music as well as good music.

and you can actually hear about 30 seconds of said cover by clicking the link.

Being optimistic for a reason is not a weird take

I can't listen to it at the moment so a weird take is all I have unfortunately

what's a weird take? that's a weird comment.

It’s hilarious to me that Dear Tommy is so delayed that even a subsequent album has lapped it.

given how many tracks from it were issued separately I kinda just assume it's not happening at all

I mean looking at the album cover this is labelled VII and Tommy is VI confirmed via instagram. Is it coming out or is it considered lost is anyone’s guess.

I remember a couple of years ago I was looking at the Chromatics Spotify profile and Johnny Jewel mistakenly made public about 4 private playlists. I think I was at the right time, right moment when the accident happened because the playlists were made private later that day and every playlist 3 followers at most.

One of them was a wedding playlist with some 70s/80s soul and disco, another was a party playlist with other 70s/80s songs.... nothing particularly interesting in those playlists tbh, but there was also an Italians Do It Better playlist and a Chromatics one, all of the songs in there were greyed out and several had generic file names like say 'YY2J1' or with names, like say "Glass Candy - IHHSJ2", I assume this was a trove of unreleased tracks and demos. Anyhow, doing a cleanup of my own a couple of months later I stopped following them and I now regret it, should have at least made a screenshot of the playlists before unfollowing or at least kept following the Chromatics one to leak the filenames and changes in there, assuming he kept updating it.

https://italiansdoitbetter.com/product/chromatics-closer-to-grey/

dollar dl

o shiii

Finally

Wonderful fuzzy solo on "Touch Red."

pleasantly surprised by how muscular "you're no good" is

If nothing else this has to be their most cohesive, well-sequenced album

Dear Tommy is still happening:

https://i.ibb.co/6DCNL8q/B6-E3314-B-9-CDC-4-FF0-8-F28-F5016-A5-A2-E44.jpg

oh "on the wall" is a jesus and mary chain cover

on first listen this is absolutely their best album by quite a way (though i don't really rate any of their previous albums much)

Seems like Ruth is more central than on any previous record here.

can confirm the Sound of Silence cover is excellent

"On the Wall" cover is great too. Whole thing is. "Light as a Feather", "Touch Red" and "Through the Looking Glass" are my jams so far.

First impressions:

I love every Chromatics cover they have ever released and Sound of Silence is not an exception, even better is the On the Wall cover, it might be one of the best songs in here.

You’re No Good has that classic Italians Do It Better vibe and it’s probably the most friendly song in here, it might be the only song in here that I’d consider releasing as a single.

It’s subtle but they have definitely evolved their style and I think Light as a Feather and Touch Red are specially interesting and different to everything they have done before. I’m getting a trip hop/shoegaze vibe in them which I didn’t expect to hear in a Chromatics album but I’m liking it on first listen.

Also: That album cover might be one of my favorite ones of the year.

I‘m bummed Dear Tommy was shelved - hopefully not for life - but I agree this might be their best album so far. It’s the most consistent for sure.

the "sound of silence" cover is executed well enough but that song's been so overexposed the last few years i never want to hear it again

it sounds like dear tommy is still planned but who knows when it'll ever arrive lol. apparently "touch red" is "touch blue" from the original dear tommy tracklist but no other tracks from it show up on this

Seems like Ruth is more central than on any previous record here.

― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, October 1, 2019 9:05 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Feels more apparent than ever that Ruth is the starlet to Johnny's director

i think the slight broadening of their sonic palette has really helped them to come into their own and feel less pastiche-y than before here. it's also much more tightly constructed as an album which really helps, and just sounds a lot better production-wise than before too.

love "Touch Red", but "On the Wall", while sounding great, adds nothing to the JAMC

The production has definitely been polished since the last album but the last singles/EPs from 2018/2019 already hinted it (specially liked Camera and Time Rider and had hopes they would make it to an album but alas they wont)

The guitars are specially good in here compared to the ones in Kill For Love which imho were very screechy sounding.

my guess is "time rider" and "camera" will eventually show up on dear tommy as they were originally intended for it

completely agree about how the production has come a long way on the material post-kill for love - all the singles intended for dear tommy were a step up and it's improved even more since then

Is there an ilm thread for this phenomenon? Only other example I can think of atm is Abbey Road/Let It Be

off the top of my head there's prefab sprout's from langley park to memphis/protest songs

There's a second classic rock cover in there: 'On the Wall' is 'Baba O'Riley' in all but name.

I'm exaggerating, but the echoes are hard to shake off.

it's a jesus & mary chain cover, so while i hear what you're getting at it's probably just as applicable to the original

Ah, I had no idea. I guess I should listen to Darklands.

wow, the On the Wall cover is breathtaking

album's pretty good, but also feels uncharacteristically low-stakes? which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if they wind up releasing Dear Tommy soon I'm guessing it'll be another 90 minute opus or something

That's how it feels to me too.

I really want a Chromatic’s cover of a Leonard Cohen song, with their Montreal connections.

Slowly beginning to agree with the "this is their best album" take. Love the "Light as a Feather"->"Touch Red" trio especially

PS it looks like 'I Can Never Be Myself When You're Around' is quietly back on Spotify? <3

another new album of sorts has been released - Faded Now. it seems to be a mix of alternate versions of Closer to Grey tracks and new tracks. it's also been added to the Closer to Grey deluxe edition, so i guess these new tracks are essentially Closer to Grey b-sides/outtakes?

!
?

ICYMI, part 2: https://t.co/TopQOYgxSf

— Vehlinggo (@vehlinggo) April 20, 2020