A short while ago I wrote about the latest La Dispute release, a record featuring songs from an acoustic show I attended in Kingston. The significance of that show was that it marked the first time I really got the band - I'd seen them live twice before but at that show I became a fan. Immediately afterwards I went to Banquet and bought this copy of their full-length album (along with a couple of other records). It was pure chance that I picked up this one over their other records, but I made a good choice as a starting point. As far as I can tell, this is the lavender 13th pressing. The etching on side D doesn't really come out in the photos below, but it's a drawing of two birds, some flowers and the word "somewhere...".
I do love an album with a strong opening track and Such Small Hands does exactly that, and it's mirrored in the closer Nobody, Not Even the Rain. I'm also a big fan of spoken/shouted vocals (something mewithoutYou are great at) and there are great examples of it here throughout the album - the sheer quantity of words sung on Said the King to the River, Bury Your Flames and the epic The Last Lost Continent is impressive. New Storms For Older Lovers has some huge breaks (particularly around the lines "always is valueless / I wish I'd never heard her speak a word") as does Sad Prayers For Guilty Bodies. Fall Down, Never Get Back Up Again offers a slight reprise from the from the fairly unrelenting anger, but it's still there, just simmering at a lower level.
All in all, it's an excellent album and one I go back to often. A lot of the ideas and themes were probably executed even better on Wildlife, but more on that another time. Somewhere at the Bottom... is an incredibly strong album and I'd thoroughly recommend it.
Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 13
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 24/05/14
Colour: Lavender
Etching: Etched D side
mp3s: no
