John Vanderslice
Emerald City
Release Date: Jul 24, 2007
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Barsuk
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Album Review: Emerald City by John Vanderslice
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating A-
Every few years, this San Francisco-based artist and producer (Spoon, the Mountain Goats) releases a carefully crafted study in contrasts: angsty lyrics enfolded in exquisite instrumentation. And John Vanderslice’s sixth full-length, Emerald City, doesn’t disappoint. His sob stories, many occasioned by his real-life French lover’s visa difficulties, are as moving as ever.
Based on rating 8/10
Emerald City finds John Vanderslice moving in a more organic direction, relying less on electronic studio trickery and more on the weight of lyrics in his songs, in the vein of the Decemberists or Neutral Milk Hotel. According to a press statement by Barsuk Records, Emerald City was supposedly written as John Vanderslice dealt with legal issues due to an incident where his Parisian girlfriend's visa immigration was rejected by U.S. Immigration.
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