The Books - The Lemon of Pink

too many samples, but there are some really nice moments

Anything new from this band? Their last album was, what, four years ago?

four years ago and not very good

I thought Lost and Safe was okay. Nowhere near as inventive or -- for all the talk, at the time, about how The Books were going for a more conventional sound -- as catchy as The Lemon Of Pink. But what they were going for on Lost and Safe made me v. interested in hearing their next project, which is why I'm wondering where they've gone off to.

yeah, they did sort of vanish didn't they? i might have stopped thinking about them all together if i didn't still play the first two records every so often.

lost and safe is 3 years of age exactly and is their best record by far.

i don't agree, but i'm ready for a re-appraisal :)

They were touring around as a two-person group last year around this time, but I think it was all old material.

All three are equally interchangeable for me. Like, if someone told me that all three albums came from the same sessions in the late 90s/early 00s, I'd believe it.

Thought for Food: Very Good
Lemon of Pink: Very Gooder
Lost and Safe: Very Goodest

"Very Goodest" leaves little room for higher praise for the next album.

i actually listened to this last week and quite enjoyed it. have nothing else by this band.

so I have been thinking a lot about the last track on here, "P.S.", and how it's sort of a distillation of the album as a whole. maybe it was made as a joke, in fact it probably was, but I still find something profound in it. if you don't remember basically what they did was take an interview they recorded and edited out all the actual thoughts, so all you hear is stammers and chuckles, the sound of people breathing, plus some filler words like "yeah", "well", "uh...", etc. But what's neat is you still can pick up on the tone of the conversation, the general cordial atmosphere, but also that struggle they have of really articulating what they're trying to say. Which tend to be what you actually remember about certain interactions from long ago. idk if that was at all what they're going for but **Marge Simpson voice** I just think it's neat

You're reminding me of the unusual pleasures of these rekkids----here's my preview of their Columbus oh show of long ago (2011):

The Books
Thursday @ Wexner
The Books play (and sample) plucked, strummed and bowed instruments, while talking and singing with countless other sounds, also sampled (and played). Waves of fragments move calmly, and, on their first album, The Lemon of Pink, venerable voices provide “helpful” gibberish. The Books like to ricochet through such decay, although the subsequent Lost & Save risks spelling this out a little too plainly, before zigzagging through unexpected insights and comedy. Their new version of Nick Drake’s “Cello Song” even grooves with the glitches of a cheapo CD-R!

That's their version of "Cello Song," with Jose Gonzalez, contributed to the Red Hot charity comp, Dark Was The Night.

These guys were insanely good at capturing both the happiness and sadness of being a human being.