The Unnatural World Explained

The Unnatural World
Type:studio
Artist:Have a Nice Life
Cover:Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World.jpg
Border:yes
Released:[1]
Recorded:2008–2012
Genre:
Label:Enemies List Home Recordings,
The Flenser
Prev Title:Time of Land
Prev Year:2010
Next Title:Sea of Worry
Next Year:2019

The Unnatural World is the second studio album by American rock duo Have a Nice Life. It was released on February 4, 2014, via The Flenser and the band's own record label Enemies List Home Recordings. It is a follow-up to 2008's Deathconsciousness and 2010's Time of Land EP.

The band recorded the album from 2008 to 2012 "in various bedrooms" between Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to its liner notes. The tracks "Defenestration Song" and "Burial Society" premiered in December 2013 and January 2014, respectively.[2] [3] [4] The full album was streamed by Pitchfork Media from January 20 to January 27, 2014.[5]

Tracks and musical style

Andrew Sacher and Wyatt Marshall of BrooklynVegan wrote that "the album falls somewhere between goth, noise, shoegaze and post-punk." They also described the album as "addictively melodic for such dark music."[6]

Noisey Vice stated that the song "Burial Society" had "a Nine Inch Nails-meets-post-punk vibe," which "evidenced Have a Nice Life's leanings on the sonic dark side in the record.[3] Lars Gotrich of NPR described the track "Defenestration Song" as "the kind of pitch-black, post-punk party-rocker that'd really turn up at any Goth Night dance." He also wrote: "A two-note guitar riff is barely heard above the dank din as warming feedback permeates the whole affair, like the kind that lulls you to sleep just before an icy death" while comparing the song's rhythm and distorted bass line to the works of the gothic rock pioneers Bauhaus.[2]

Of the track "Dan and Tim, Reunited by Fate", Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that "the pair cherrypick tropes from a number of bleak traditions: reverb-drenched industrial beats; doom-metal sludge; shoegaze drones conjured from effects pedals; post-punk bass chuggery; a plaintive piano+static post-rock crescendo." Tiny Mix Tapes also wrote that the band holds this genre palette together "by matching its compositional ambitions with idiosyncratic recording and production techniques."[7]

Personnel

Have a Nice Life
Production

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Have A Nice Life – Unnatural World . . January 29, 2014.
  2. Web site: Viking's Choice: This Song Is Literally For Throwing Stuff Out The Window . . December 11, 2013 . January 29, 2014 . Gotrich, Lars.
  3. Web site: Listen to: "Have a Nice Life's new tune, 'Burial Society'" . . January 8, 2014 . January 29, 2014.
  4. Web site: Listen: Connecticut shoegaze band Have A Nice Life's punishing new song, "Burial Society" . https://web.archive.org/web/20140131193052/http://www.chartattack.com/news/tracks-news/2014/01/22/hear-burial-society-from-conneticut-shoegaze-band-have-a-nice-life/ . usurped . January 31, 2014 . . January 22, 2014 . January 29, 2014 . Darville, Jordan.
  5. Web site: Stream New LPs From Have a Nice Life, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, and Jess Williamson Via Pitchfork Advance . . January 20, 2014 . January 29, 2014.
  6. Web site: Have A Nice Life and Woods of Desolation streaming new LPs (listen to both) . . January 24, 2014 . January 29, 2014 . Sacher, Andrew and Wyatt Marshall.
  7. Web site: Have A Nice Life - "Dan And Tim, Reunited By Fate" . . January 21, 2014 . January 29, 2014.