~music Listening Club 4 - Weather Systems
Welcome to week four! This week we focus on another user-voted record: Weather Systems by Anathema.
Puling @deciduous' original pitch :
Weather Systems is an interesting album to me because it is both immediately catchy, but also very dense. It was specifically created to be an emotional experience that required engagement by the listener and bot does it deliver on that front. Each song flows well into the next and has a different a unique emotional resonance. "Lightning Song" is intense in a way few other songs are and "The Beginning and the End" is one of my favorite tracks ever for its fantastic piano riff that carries throughout the song. If you're at all into post or prog rock, this album is perfect for you.
Here's the place to discuss your thoughts on the record, your history with it or the band, and basically talk about whatever you want to that goes along with Weather Systems. Remember that this is intended to be a slow moving thing, feel free to take your time and listen / comment at any point in the week!
If you'd like to stream or buy the album, it can be found on most platforms here.
Just got done with a listen through of this and I think that it's something that I would have enjoyed had I been introduced to it earlier in my life. I've drifted away from this general sound and listening to it doesn't really hit any chords with me other than a slight feeling of nostalgia for an earlier part of my life. Something really hit me with the spoken word parts in Internal Landscapes though, and I think that song was very beautiful for it if nothing else.
I also really enjoyed the spoken word. I can't quite place the rest of the album. It's good, but I don't feel like it speaks to me in particular.
I did a listen today, and I'm not much of a fan. I pretty much echo @Cleb's thoughts, I think at a certain point in my life this could've been something that would catch my ear, but as for right now I found it mostly pretty empty and uninteresting. That's actually a pretty sad feeling, like you've missed the window where you could really appreciate a piece of art. I don't mean that in a shitty "ugh, that's high school music" way or something, I just think that at that moment in my life, my taste was in a place that would let this in.
Modern proggy stuff isn't really my style for the most part, and I don't think I could really say anything about it that would be meaningful to those who do enjoy that kind of thing, but it really didn't do much for me. However, I do want to check out their earlier records, as they look to be more to my taste with their grounding in 90s alt rock.
Anyway, thank you for the nomination and pitch @deciduous, and I hope this record hits someone in the way it did for you. :)
I'm not a modern prog-rock fan at all so fair warning to take my comment with a huge grain of sand.
Overall I found this album pleasant enough to listen to, however (and this may be sacrilegious) it kind of reminded of Coldplay in terms of its moderately catchy, easy to listen to nature and even in terms of its sound, being composed of layered simple melodies and somewhat melancholic lyrics and vocals. Also similar to Coldplay, every song felt incredibly safe, uncontroversial and almost clinically composed, which to my ears rendered them almost indistinct from one another. And as a result, none of the songs really stuck out as something I would seek out listening to again. So overall, did I enjoy it? Sure, but would I listen to it again? Probably not.
I feel bad for simply piling on the criticism, especially since the album clearly speaks to @deciduous enough to suggest it, but unfortunately nothing really felt compelling, interesting or noteworthy about it to me (except the brief spoken word part at the end).
It's always great to find something that really appeals like that for you, I'm glad that you did :)