Illusory Walls

Last updated
Illusory Walls
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls.png
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 8, 2021
Studio
Genre
Length70:25
Label Epitaph
Producer
  • Chris Teti
  • Greg Thomas
the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die chronology
Always Foreign
(2017)
Illusory Walls
(2021)
Thank You for Being Here
(2022)
Singles from Illusory Walls
  1. "Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance"
    Released: August 3, 2021
  2. "Queen Sophie for President"
    Released: September 1, 2021
  3. "Trouble"
    Released: October 5, 2021

Illusory Walls is the fourth studio album by American emo band the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, released October 8, 2021, by Epitaph Records. [1] The name of the album, as well as the lead single "Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance", is inspired by the video game series Dark Souls . [1] [2] It is the band's first album since the departure of guitarist-vocalists Tyler Bussey and Dylan Balliett [3] [4] and the death of founding member Tom Diaz. [5] The album was followed by a tour through the fall, including a concert at Brooklyn's Elsewhere Hall which was recorded for their live album Thank You for Being Here .

Contents

Writing and recording

Recording was split between Chris Teti's home studio, Silver Bullet Studios, in Burlington, Connecticut; and David Bello's and Katie Dvorak's homes both in Philadelphia, where they recorded their respective vocal parts and Dvorak recorded her synthesizer. This, as well as the year-long timeframe the album was made in, enabled the band to experiment a lot more with their writing, as opposed to past releases which were usually fully turned around in the span of a couple months with ideas needing to be immediate in order to meet strict deadlines. In an interview with BrooklynVegan 's Andrew Sacher, Chris Teti described this using the example of his process of coming up with his lead guitar part for the middle and three-quarters sections of "Queen Sophie for President", saying that he was "pretty stumped on that song in general for like months" but "sat on it for a couple months and played around with some ideas in my free time", even declaring he would avoid listening to the song for a week before returning to it. One day, while watching a band documentary on either Blur or Bloc Party, Teti was inspired to buy a guitar pedal which led him to the song's dual lead guitar part for that section and even inspired him to rewrite the rest of the song's guitars. [6]

Teti also explained how the length of the two last songs on the album was partly inspired by a conversation with Fiddlehead's Patrick Flynn during the recording of their album Between the Richness; how recording had to be delayed because of Dvorak injuring her vocal chords and being unable to sing for multiple months; and how that injury was one of numerous lyrical themes she and Bello explored on the album along with Bello discussing "dietal issues" and "fucked up stuff" from his childhood growing up in West Virginia, which Teti described as making him "nostalgic for [Bello's] childhood" despite having no nostalgia for his own. [6]

Release

The album was preceded by three singles: "Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance" was released on August 3, 2021, [1] "Queen Sophie for President" was released on September 1, [7] and "Trouble" was released on October 5. [8] The first two came with music videos directed by Adam Peditto, with the former starring Wataru Nishida, [1] [9] and the third had an animated video directed by Callum Scott-Dyson. [10]

Live

Thank You for Being Here
Live album by
the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
ReleasedOctober 7, 2022
RecordedNovember 13, 2021
VenueElsewhere Hall, Brooklyn, New York
Length41:22
Label Epitaph
the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die chronology
Illusory Walls
(2021)
Thank You for Being Here
(2022)

Prior to announcing the album, the band announced US headlining tour dates in June 2021, supported by Bent Knee, Greet Death, State Faults, and Gates. The last of those dates was a November 13 performance at Elsewhere Hall in Brooklyn, featuring the band's core lineup playing alongside Bent Knee's Chris Baum on violin and the band's manager Anthony Gesa on guitar, a show which BrooklynVegan's Andrew Sacher reviewed positively. [11] [12] On August 30, 2022, the band announced a live album and tour documentary which had been recorded during the Elsewhere Hall show, both titled Thank You for Being Here. A trailer and a single release of their live performance of "January 10, 2014" from their previous album Harmlessness were both released the same day. [13] The second single, their recording of Illusory Walls's "Afraid to Die", was released September 27, [14] and the album and tour doc were both released October 7 by Epitaph Records. [13] [15]

Style

The album is a mix of emo, post-rock, and progressive rock, [16] with the prog rock newly emphasized compared to their previous releases. [16] [17] The album has been called the band's most adventurous release to date despite the band's pared down lineup, even incorporating elements of metal music. [18] That changed lineup includes the reduction of the band from three guitarists to just one, [19] though the mix is regarded as no less full or intricate, [19] with Beats Per Minute 's Rob Hakimian even saying the album adds "a lot more guitars ... to their already-dense sound." [2] Steven Buttery's drums are called "punchy", [19] "thunderous", [2] and "relentless". [20] The album also sees the addition of string and horn sections from guest musicians, with the strings described in terms such as "cinematic", [2] "elegiac", [2] "anthemic", [19] and "dramatic". [16] [21] Overall though, the band's core sound remains the same: "[David] Bello and Katie Dvorak still trade vocal duties, guitars still loop, and sudden climaxes are still the backbone". [18] The album even incorporates elements which can be drawn back to the band's previous work: the "spacious post-rock" [16] of Whenever, If Ever ; "gleaming theatrics" [18] and "unabashed grandeur" [16] of Harmlessness; and "lyrical clarity" [16] and "melancholy" [18] of Always Foreign ; and contains multiple callbacks to past the World Is music, such as the inclusion of a guitar from the band's split album with Deer Leap, Are Here to Help You, at the end of "Fewer Afraid"; a small clip of music originally from between the last two songs on Harmlessness appearing at the end of the music video for "Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance"; and a reference to the vocals of the Long Live Happy Birthday EP track "Katamari Duquette" on "Died in the Prison of the Holy Office". [6] 35 of the album's 70 minute runtime is dedicated to its last two songs, "Infinite Josh" and "Fewer Afraid", [2] [16] [21] [18] both of which No Ripcord's Juan Edgardo Rodriguez calls "post-rock epics that split the difference between Yo La Tengo and Explosions in the Sky" and compares them to expanded versions of longer songs from the band's previous albums. [17]

Lyrically, the album opens in a less optimistic position. Opening track "Afraid to Die" subverts the band's name to depict a story of people struggling under capitalism, though with a note of hopefulness suggested by the song's string-filled finish. [2] The whole album takes the same anti-capitalistic stance, [2] with depictions of protagonists who struggle with low incomes, [2] medication costs, [16] homelessness, [2] consumerism, [2] and various failed attempts to cope with these things such as drugs, religion, and self-help. [2] [21] Exclaim!'s Adam Feibel calls the album the band's "most angry, cynical and hopeless record" but "also their most joyous, ambitious and hopeful record", [21] The hopefulness opens up on the last two tracks, with lines such as "The objects we're locked in, immobile and violent / Just fewer like that, fewer afraid" feeling like an awakening,slant and "Fewer Afraid"'s reuse of the coda from Whenever, If Ever's "Getting Sodas" [20] – "The world is a beautiful place, but we have to make it that way / Whenever you find home, we'll make it more than just a shelter / If everyone belongs there, it will hold us all together / If you're afraid to die, then so am I." – showing the band display how they hold themselves together through shared understanding and trust. [2]

Reception

Illusory Walls ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic? 8/10 [22]
Metacritic 82/100 [23]
Review scores
SourceRating
Beats Per Minute 83/100 [2]
Exclaim! 9/10 [21]
No Ripcord7/10 [17]
Pitchfork 6.8/10 [19]
Slant Magazine Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [16]
Sputnikmusic4.7/5 [18]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic , Illusory Walls received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 from 6 critic scores. [23] Beats Per Minute 's Rob Hakimian said that 20-minute closing track "Fewer Afraid" is "a perfect way to underline an album so overloaded with emotion and sheer sonic weight that you sometimes wonder how they manage to keep it chugging so frictionlessly", and "Illusory Walls is a definitive document of the power of their combined ability and belief." [2] In Exclaim! , Adam Feibel called Illusory Walls "a going-for-it album from a band that has never been known to hold back anyway" on which the band "give a lot and only ask for some of your time, patience and attention in return", and that "at every interval, [the band] make it worth your while." [21]

Pitchfork 's Patric Fallon said the album "sacrifices intimacy and warmth in favor of the most technically proficient and hard-hitting music of their career." [19] Jordan Walsh wrote in Slant that the album "feels like the awakening that the band has been building toward all along", the band "bring[s] their emo-inflected brand of post-rock to bigger, darker, and more life-affirming places than ever before", and that they "[incorporate] a prog-rock bombast and studio slickness that serve to revitalize the band's signature sound." [16] Stereogum 's Chris DeVille called the album's lyrics "consistently remarkable" and "as immersive and stirring as the music", and the album the band's "heaviest, proggiest, most audacious release to date", "scaling up the old bombast in every conceivable way." [24]

Year-end lists

Illusory Walls year-end lists
Publication#Ref.
The Alternative18 [25]
BrooklynVegan 16 [26]
Chorus.fm 21 [27]
Flood24 [28]
Sputnikmusic2 [29]
Treble50 [30]

Track listing

All tracks are written by the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. All tracks are produced by Chris Teti and Greg Thomas

Illusory Walls tracks
No.TitleLength
1."Afraid to Die"3:09
2."Queen Sophie for President"3:29
3."Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance"5:50
4."Blank//Drone"1:40
5."We Saw Birds Through the Hole in the Ceiling"3:35
6."Died in the Prison of the Holy Office"6:48
7."Your Brain Is a Rubbermaid"3:03
8."Blank//Worker"2:46
9."Trouble"4:42
10."Infinite Josh"15:39
11."Fewer Afraid"19:44
Total length:70:25

Personnel

Band

  • David F. Bello – vocals, guitar
  • Steven K. Buttery – drums, mallets, auxiliary percussion
  • Joshua K. Cyr – bass, vocals
  • Katie Dvorak – vocals, synthesizer
  • Chris Teti – guitar, vocals, bass

Additional musicians

  • Chris Baum, Michael Hustedde, Cymrie Hukill, and Julie Beistline – violin
  • Roselie Samte and Caryn Bradley – viola
  • Ben Swartz and Lisa Williams – cello
  • Matt Hull – trumpet
  • Eric Stilwell – trombone
  • Travis Bliss – saxophone
  • Sarah Cowell, Adam Peditto, Connor Feimster, Christopher June Zizzamia, and Caroline Mills – additional vocals

Technical

  • Chris Teti – producer, mixing engineer, programming, recording engineer
  • Greg Thomas – producer, mixing engineer, recording engineer, string composition, string arrangement, additional programming
  • Kris Crummett – mastering engineer
  • Randy Slaugh – string arrangement, additional programming, additional orchestra production and engineering
  • Jamie Van Dyck – string arrangement, additional programming
  • Chris Baum – additional string composition (4), string arrangement
  • David F. Bello and Katie Dvorak – additional engineering
  • Justin Khan and Dennis Tuohey – additional editing
  • Brookesia Studio – artwork
  • Finnbogi Örn – album layout design

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Velvet Teen</span> American indie rock band

The Velvet Teen is an American independent rock trio from Sonoma County, California.

<i>The Silent Circus</i> 2003 studio album by Between the Buried and Me

The Silent Circus is the second studio album by American progressive metalcore band Between the Buried and Me. Released October 21, 2003, through Victory Records. It was their first album to be released through Victory Records after their departure from Lifeforce Records. It was re-released in 2006 with a bonus DVD included. The album includes 10 tracks with a hidden song titled "The Man Land" hidden at the end of "The Need for Repetition". It is notable for being the band's only album not to be produced by Jamie King. The album was remixed and remastered in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morning Again</span> American metalcore band

Morning Again is an American metalcore band from Florida. They were known for their metallic sound as well as for their straight edge, vegan, anti-religious and anti-government ideals. The band was a "sister band" to Culture, often switching members after one had left the other. Several members went on to play in other bands such as As Friends Rust and Dead Blue Sky. The band was originally from Cooper City, Florida, but moved to Coral Springs in 1998 before breaking up later that year. After playing several reunion shows over the years, the band released a new EP in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Menzingers</span> American punk rock band

The Menzingers are an American punk rock band from Scranton, Pennsylvania, formed in 2006. The band consists of Greg Barnett, Tom May, Eric Keen (bass) and Joe Godino (drums). To date, the band has released eight studio albums, with their most recent, Some of It Was True, released on October 13, 2023.

My Heart to Joy was an American emo band from Berlin, Connecticut. Originally formed when the members are at high school, They released a demo, two EPs, a compilation, and an album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die</span> American emo band

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die is an American rock band formed in Willimantic, Connecticut, in 2009. Following the release of several EPs and splits featuring original lead singer Thomas Diaz, they released their debut LP Whenever, If Ever in 2013 to generally positive reviews. Undergoing a series of roster changes, they proceeded to release a 2014 collaboration with spoken word artist Christopher Zizzamia titled Between Bodies, as well as several full-length records, including Harmlessness in 2015, Always Foreign in 2017, and 2021's Illusory Walls.

The emo revival, or fourth wave emo, was an underground emo movement which began in the late 2000s and flourished until the mid-to-late 2010s. The movement began towards the end of the 2000s third-wave emo, with Pennsylvania-based groups such as Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader and Snowing eschewing that era's mainstream sensibilities in favor of influence from 1990s Midwest emo. Acts like Touché Amoré, La Dispute and Defeater drew from 1990s emo and especially its heavier counterparts, such as screamo and post-hardcore.

<i>Whenever, If Ever</i> 2013 studio album by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

Whenever, If Ever is the debut studio album by American indie rock band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, released on June 18, 2013, on Topshelf Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foxing (band)</span> American indie rock band

Foxing is an American indie rock band from St. Louis, Missouri. The band has released four studio albums, a live album, an EP and 12 singles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sorority Noise</span> American rock band

Sorority Noise was an American rock band from Hartford, Connecticut. The band consisted of members from the bands Old Gray, Prawn (McKenna), Small Circle, and En Route (Singer).

<i>Harmlessness</i> 2015 studio album by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

Harmlessness is the second studio album by American indie rock band The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. It was announced on August 4, 2015, and was released on September 25. The title of the album is a play on the name of the band's first EP, Formlessness.

Rozwell Kid is an American indie rock band formed in 2011 in West Virginia, United States. They released their first studio album on Broken World Media and their most recent album on SideOneDummy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mothers (band)</span>

Mothers was an American band from Athens, Georgia, United States, composed of Kristine Leschper, Matthew Anderegg, Chris Taylor, and Garrett Burke. They released their debut album When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired, on February 26, 2016. Their sophomore album, Render Another Ugly Method, released September 7, 2018.

<i>Nowhere Generation II</i> 2022 EP by Rise Against

Nowhere Generation II is the eleventh extended play by American punk rock band Rise Against. It was released as a continuation to their ninth studio album, Nowhere Generation, on June 10, 2022; just over a year after the release of Nowhere Generation. The EP was produced by the band's longtime producers, Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, with the addition of Andrew Berlin and Chris Beeble. It was promoted by the single "Last Man Standing".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vermin Mangle</span> 2020 single by Cardiacs

"Vermin Mangle" is a song by English rock band Cardiacs from their unfinished album LSD, intended as the album's final track. The song was written by Tim Smith, who played it live during solo performances in 2000 and 2006. Following Smith's death, it was released as a free download on 1 September 2020 through the band's Bandcamp page as the second single from the album, to mark his funeral that same day. Intended as a thank you to the group's fans, the song features the circus, progressive rock and psychedelic instrumentation that drove much of the band's work.

<i>Lies They Tell Our Children</i> 2023 studio album by Anti-Flag

Lies They Tell Our Children is the thirteenth and final studio album by American punk rock band Anti-Flag from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was released on January 6, 2023, via Spinefarm Records. Primary production, recording, and mixing was handled by Jon Lundin, while the mastering was done by long-time Anti-Flag producer and mastering engineer Mass Giorgini. It is also the band's first concept album, and features multiple guest musicians from notable acts such as Rise Against, Bad Religion, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Pinkshift, and Silverstein.

Riverby is an American indie rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2018 by lead singer August Greenberg and guitarist Tyler Asay, the band released an EP, The Guide To Oversharing (2019), before signing to independent label Take This To Heart Records in 2020 and releasing their debut album, Smart Mouth. A second album, Absolution, was released in 2022. Riverby have performed alongside acts including Chris Gethard, Mannequin Pussy, and The Front Bottoms, and have been featured by WXPN and BrooklynVegan.

<i>Were Not Here to Be Loved</i> 2022 studio album by Fleshwater

We're Not Here to Be Loved is the debut studio album by American rock band Fleshwater. Produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, the album was released on November 4, 2022, through Closed Casket Activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skatune Network</span> American ska musician and YouTuber

Jeremy Andrew "Jer" Hunter is an American YouTuber, musician, composer and music educator who hosts the YouTube channel Skatune Network, where they post ska covers of popular songs. They have also released original music under the name JER, played trombone for ska punk band We Are the Union since 2015, and performed on albums by The Bruce Lee Band, Jeff Rosenstock, and Illuminati Hotties. Prominent on social media, Hunter has been outspoken about the history and current state of ska music, earning the fan nickname "The CEO of Ska". BrooklynVegan has written, "You can't talk about the renewed interest in ska without talking Jeremy Hunter", while music critic Anthony Fantano has described them as "a one-person ska wrecking crew".

Dying Wish is an American metalcore band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of vocalist Emma Boster, guitarists Sam Reynolds and Pedro Carrillo, drummer Jeff Yambra and bassist Jon Mackey.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Minsker, Evan (August 3, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place... Announce New Album Illusory Walls, Share New Song". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Hakimian, Rob (October 12, 2021). "Album Review: The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  3. Cooper, Duncan (March 7, 2018). "It's time to get really into Spirit Night". The Fader. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  4. Pertola, Petteri (December 20, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls". Rockfreaks.net. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  5. Kaufman, Gil (November 5, 2018). "Tom Diaz, Singer for the World Is a Beautiful Place, Dies at 32". Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Sacher, Andrew (October 5, 2021). "TWIABP's Chris Teti on their most determined album yet – "It kind of felt like 'do or die'"". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  7. Rettig, James (September 1, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - "Queen Sophie for President"". Stereogum. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  8. Breihan, Tom (October 5, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - "Trouble"". Stereogum. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  9. Sacher, Andrew (September 1, 2021). "TWIABP share post-punky new song "Queen Sophie for President"". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  10. Lesuer, Mike (October 5, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place Navigate Banana Peels on "Trouble"". Flood. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  11. "TWIABP announce tour dates with Bent Knee, Greet Death, State Faults & Gates, new LP coming". BrooklynVegan. June 23, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  12. Sacher, Andrew (November 15, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place, Bent Knee, and Gates played Elsewhere". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  13. 1 2 Geiger, Amy (August 30, 2022). "TWIABP announce live album and tour documentary, Thank You for Being Here". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  14. ""Afraid to Die (Live)" from Thank You for Being Here by the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die". Bandcamp. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  15. Lee, Christina; Moody, Tarik; Morrison, John; Thompson, Stephen (October 7, 2022). "New Music Friday: The best releases out Oct. 7". NPR. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Walsh, Jordan (October 4, 2021). "Review: With Illusory Walls, the World Is a Beautiful Place Magnify Their Sound". Slant. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  17. 1 2 3 Rodriguez, Juan Edgardo (October 18, 2021). "The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die: Illusory Walls". No Ripcord. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The World Is a Beautiful Place... Illusory Walls". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fallon, Patric (October 13, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die Illusory Walls Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  20. 1 2 Khajadourian, Ani (November 1, 2021). "Album Review: The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Illusory Walls". Mxdwn.com. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Feibel, Adam (October 6, 2021). "The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die Balance Anger and Ambition on Illusory Walls". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  22. "Illusory Walls by the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die reviews". AnyDecentMusic. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  23. 1 2 "Illusory Walls by the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  24. DeVille, Chris (October 5, 2021). "Album of the Week: The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die Illusory Walls". Stereogum. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  25. Brooks, Michael (December 21, 2021). "The Alternative's 50 Top Records of 2021". The Alternative. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  26. "BrooklynVegan's Top 50 Albums of 2021". BrooklynVegan. December 28, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  27. Beringer, Drew (January 3, 2022). "Chorus.fm's Top 30 Albums of 2021". Chorus.fm. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  28. Bayer, Jonah (December 14, 2021). "The Best Albums of 2021". Flood. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  29. "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2021". Sputnikmusic. December 22, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  30. Blyweiss, Adam (December 6, 2021). "The 50 Best Albums of 2021". Treble. Retrieved December 13, 2022.