{"product_id":"lean-year-sides-1","title":"Lean Year: Sides - VINYL LP","description":"\u003cb\u003eTitle: \u003c\/b\u003eSides\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eArtist: \u003c\/b\u003eLean Year\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eLabel: \u003c\/b\u003eWestern Vinyl\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eProduct Type: \u003c\/b\u003eVINYL LP\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eUPC: \u003c\/b\u003e843563149744\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eGenre: \u003c\/b\u003eRock\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eRelease Date: \u003c\/b\u003e2022-09-02\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \u003cb\u003eNumber of Discs: \u003c\/b\u003e1\u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \n                                         \u003cbr\u003e\n                                         \n                                         \n                                         There is a moment on Sides, the new album from Richmond, Virginia-based duo LeanYear, in which a hospital room floor is filled with white chrysanthemums. This imagery,based on an opiate-induced hallucination experienced by vocalist Emilie Rex's motheras she recovered from surgery, is a perfect encapsulation of the band's second album:dreamlike and beautiful, yet burdened with cold, stark reality. Sides is a harrowingjourney through realms of grief and memory, a meditation woven into a tapestry of synthpads, woodwinds, and Rex's instantly recognizable voice. The duo of Rex and Rick Alverson-who also works as a film director (The Mountain,Entertainment, The Comedy)-originally set out to write an album about conflict, butduring the writing and recording process, they were confronted with a number ofpersonal tragedies. Alverson lost both of his parents in rapid succession, Rex's motherreceived a cancer diagnosis, and the couple's beloved family dog, Orca, died. Theseevents transformed the album into an exploration of loss-an attempt at processing thepainful, complex, and private emotions that bubble to the surface when confronted withdeath. \"We thought we'd do a concept album called Sides where we could reflect on allof the division in the world, and some in our own families, but then COVID transformedeverything\/everyone, and we suffered our own specific losses. The record becameabout loss and grief,\" Rex explains. \"In this way, the title Sides was still appropriate: ourindividual grief and collective grief, the margins of before and after, the act and feelingof during and enduring. It felt like straddling a threshold between two opposingsides-the moment before conflict and the moment after it passes, life and death, the actof living and the memory of the act. Grief feels like a contention between what you knewand what you now know, and often both feel real and unreal at once. \"Sides-produced by Alverson alongside Erik Hall (In Tall Buildings) and featuringcontributions from Elliot Bergman (Nomo, Wild Belle) and Joseph Shabason (Destroyer,The War on Drugs)-has a distinctly cinematic quality, perhaps due in part to Alverson'sother career. Moments of jazz, slowcore, and dirgelike R\u0026amp;B find their way into the sorrowful, ambient suite, lulling the listener into a state of calm while the lyrics speak of ghosts,childhood, and mortality. Despite the gravity of the subject matter, Sides succeeds inmastering a balancing act between pathos and pop. Each song is indelible andhaunting, with melodies that have the kind of broad appeal reminiscent of Karen Dalton,Aldous Harding, and FKA twigs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTracks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1.1 Legs \u003cbr\u003e1.2 Nitetime \u003cbr\u003e1.3 End \u003cbr\u003e1.4 The Trouble with Being Warm \u003cbr\u003e1.5 Panes \u003cbr\u003e1.6 Bend \u003cbr\u003e1.7 Bad Woman \u003cbr\u003e1.8 Marriage of Heaven and Hell \u003cbr\u003e1.9 Home\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Lean Year","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39707335753799,"sku":"42816188","price":24.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2976\/0132\/files\/4113767-2852671.jpg?v=1711770215","url":"https:\/\/tower.com\/products\/lean-year-sides-1","provider":"Tower Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}