The New Year *

Rating

Album: The New Year *
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Folios
2)	Company I Can Get, The
3)	X Off Days
4)	Door Opens, The
5)	MMV
6)	Seven Days and Seven Nights
7)	Wages of Sleep
8)	Body and Soul
9)	My Neighborhood
10)	Idea of You, The

Album: The New Year *

Song Title

Time

Folios

Company I Can Get, The

X Off Days

Door Opens, The

MMV

Seven Days and Seven Nights

Wages of Sleep

Body and Soul

My Neighborhood

10)

Idea of You, The

Performer Notes

Personnel: Matt Kadane (vocals, guitar, piano); Bubba Kadane (vocals, guitar); Peter Schmidt (guitar); Chris Brokaw (drums).
Brothers Matt and Bubba Kadane never promised a huge departure when they transitioned from Bedhead to the New Year in 1999. As NEWNESS ENDS picked up where the former band's TRANSACTION DE NOVO left off, so this record subtly expounds upon 2004's THE END IS NEAR's musical advances. That previous sweet Bedhead bleak streak is still in evidence on "My Neighborhood," but other songs like "The Company I Can Get" and "X Off Days" are slicker, brighter affairs. That half the songs were written on piano might help account for some of the changes in tone, which is most noticeable on the straight-up piano ballads, "MMV" and "Body & Soul." Lyrically, the New Year remain glum, but their willingness to widen their sound evokes the opposite, which is hope.

Professional Reviews

Magnet (p.116) - "[W]alkabout pacesetters 'X Off Days' and 'The Door Opens' feel more like a mad dash. The unrushed songs are equally appealing, gussied up with elegant guitar and piano accents and spiked with disarming lines."

CMJ - "[I]t's a relaxing listen, and the band's simple, lulling musicianship is nothing short of mesmerizing."