3 weeks ago
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If you haven’t seen Manchester Orchestra live in the last 20-something years, the band’s giving you all the more reason to do just that with a brand new live album, Union Chapel, London, England.
Recorded at the titular UK venue during a fall 2023 residency (and just before 2024’s 10th anniversary jaunt for Cope), the 21-track collection is described as a “raw, vocally-centered liturgical experience of introspection and community.” Here, members Andy Hull and Robert McDowell dutifully “[reimagine] some of the most beloved tracks across their catalog in a striking new light.” Supported and inspired by the venue’s “gothic chapel walls and stained glass windows,” the record typifies Hull’s “searing, resonant voice” alongside McDowell’s “meticulously plucked strings [and] ethereal instrumentation.”
As for what makes the actual Union Chapel so darn special, Hull said in a statement that it has everything to do with tapping earnestly into the band’s singular history with London at large.
“The city of London has been a close companion to Manchester Orchestra from the very beginning of the band,” Hull said. “We spilled out of a tiny van nearly 20 years ago at legendary dives like The Barfly and The Water Rats and with each year, and each show since, the town has become a kind of canon in our lives. A way to compare past with present and past with further past. It was surreal to perform those same songs and so many others across our career over the course of three nights at the historic Union Chapel. It was equally as intense as it was healing and I gratefully believe these recordings faithfully represent the air of that balancing act in the chapel that night.”
Manchester Orchestra has already previewed Union Chapel, London, England with a stirring rendition of “The Silence” (from 2017’s A Black Mile to the Surface). Today, they pull from and honor that record once more with a dazzling take on “The Grocery.” Check that out below followed by the album’s artwork and tracklist.
Union Chapel, London, England will be available as a both a double LP and a two-CD set, and each includes an eight-page roll-fold booklet. Pre-orders are available now.
Union Chapel, London, England Artwork:
Union Chapel London, England Tracklist:
01. Intro (Union Chapel, London, England)
02. I Know How To Speak (Union Chapel, London, England)
03. The Grocery (Union Chapel, London, England)
04. The Maze (Union Chapel, London, England)
05. The Gold (Union Chapel, London, England)
06. Deer (Union Chapel, London, England)
07. Angel of Death (Union Chapel, London, England)
08. I Can Barely Breathe (Union Chapel, London, England)
09. Capital Karma (Union Chapel, London, England)
10. The Way (Union Chapel, London, England)
11. The River (Union Chapel, London, England)
12. Telepath (Union Chapel, London, England)
13. Simple Math (Union Chapel, London, England)
14. I Can Feel A Hot One (Union Chapel, London, England)
15. Cope (Union Chapel, London, England)
16. Colly Strings (Union Chapel, London, England)
17. My Backwards Walk (Union Chapel, London, England)
18. Interlude (Union Chapel, London, England)
19. Rear View (Union Chapel, London, England)
20. Bed Head (Union Chapel, London, England)
21. The Silence (Union Chapel, London, England)
English (US) · 