The Broken String (Bishop Allen)

I saw these guys open for John Vanderslice in Seattle at Club Neumos, and I'm sorry John, but these guys stole the show. What an album. I know it has been compiled from their impressive EP-a-month project, but whatever did it, this is one of my top 10 of 2007, up there with Boxer, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Sky Blue Sky et al. "The Monitor" requires singing along throughout. The drums draw you in, and the pianos keep you there. Find yourself singing "carried on, carried on, carried on/singing la-da-da-da-la-de-da" over and over. Perfectly blending into track 2, "Rain" is one of the best on the album. Full of promise and inspiring lyrics. Great little bit of guitar work, matching the non-stop vocals in the verses. Listen repeatedly. This also blends right into "Click, Click, Click, Click", a smoothed out/ crooned out track. Nice and memorable and cheery, ala happy Wilco, any Rogue Wave, among others. This song holds it own among anything I've heard this year. Perfectly produced. ... Read more

To start off I'm just going to say that this is a great album for everyone- from a grizzled Indie veteran such as myself to a hard rocker who wants to experiment with new sounds. In this album Bishop Allen establishes their own distinctive sound, but it varies so much that no song is the same. From the awe-inspiring "The Monitor" to the all out jangly fun sound of "News From Your Bed", this is great. One of the amazing things of this album is how it was recorded. Since they only had two guys, they recorded the instruments seperately and spliced the sound together. Overall, a great bye. I would reccomend it to anyone.

More brilliant Bishop Allen! I'm so delighted that they released a second album! Their quirky and imaginiative lyrics are so much fun, and most of the songs are RIDICULOUS catchy and yet, original. The only track i find a bit weak is Click,Click,Click,Click. I can't stop singing The Monitor, Corazon, and Like Castanets, but why would i want to?

Catchy doesn't have to mean dumb. This is smart, funny, poignant storytelling set to compulsively listenable hooks. And it's all wrapped up in crisp and spare arrangements that let every word and note ring directly through to your happy receptors. Enjoy these guys before the ad agencies get ahold of them and use these infectious songs to sell you a bunch of crap you don't need.

Simply a great album with many different sounds and moods. Rare to have this many winning songs on a single early release. Yes they had an album already out, but this is much more thoughtful with a more consistent set of themes. It is always nice to hear a band that utilizes lots of techniques from lots of musical influences to make compositions that work so well.