Customer Reviews

Gap

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Joan of Arc reach their peak with this pop avant-guarde record!

This album is more like an EP. I really enjoy the fractured style Joan of Arc has, but the only really stand out songs on this recording are tracks 2,3 and 8. The rest is actually quite boring and the instrumental stuff just gets annoying after awhile. track 9 would be beautiful if you could actually hear the vocals! Not their best effort.

A new Joan of Arc record is like Christmas; you don't know what you're going to get. "The Gap" proves, yet again, that Joan of Arc are one of the most important bands within independent music today. I think it's the best things they have ever done: violas, violins, upright basses, and excellent lyrics make "The Gap" an instant classic. Buy it.

One might disagree with my giving this album 5 stars as I actually always skip over the middle few tracks, which all link together in a meandering improv lyrical piece (which I wish they'd left off this disc). However!...the beginning few and last few tracks of this album are simply some of the most creative and beautiful music I have ever heard. I miss THIS Joan Of Arc terribly, as they have not achieved such a high mark since. Hate the middle of this album if you must, but outside of those tracks open your mind, open your ears and fall into the most wonderful music you're likely to ever hear.

"The Gap" tends to be seen as a pretentious and messed up release of Joan of Arc. However, most songs really have the heart, funny situations, and paradoxes of the early Joan of Arc catalogue.

"I cannot see me as you can" is one of the most delicate and maybe even romantic Joan of Arc songs out there for example. Other songs like "Knife Fights Every Night" and "Black Pants" are classic epics of Joan of Arc with full flegde orchestration and collage-like juxtapositions with an acoustic guitar. These songs were even performed live strongly, so these songs aren't completely messing around like other reviewers have said before. The lyrics of "Your Impersonation" make no sense, but the delivery, distance, condemnation, and desparartion make the whole nine minutes enjoyable even with the repeating slow guitar strings.

Yes, the end of "Knife Fights Every Night", "Zelda", "...Walk into a Bar", "Another Brick in the Gap Part 2", and "Pleasure Isn't Simple" seem to be edited completely wrong being cut in the middle of songs. I don't consider "...Walk into a Bar"(It's just the end of Knife Fights Every Night and beginning of Brick, I was upset not to hear the joke) or "Zelda" even to be a track myself. This is Joan of Arc's studio trickery approach during this era, and I think they did this to emphasize the need to listen to an album all together, which is a cool statement from musicians who appreciate the album format.

All in all, just download the classics mentioned in the second paragraph, unless you enjoy the studio trickery like me.

Joan of Arc's "The Gap" is pure, sporadic Poe-eh-tree! This venturous step of artistry should come packaged in a steel combination safe that can only be opened once the potential listener passes a musical-IQ exam and is mailed the combination. "The Gap" will delight learned music connoisseurs who are aware of the fact that experimentation does not automatically define an artist as self-indulgent. And for those of you who dismiss this album as mindless, pretentious, etc. (this includes you, Pitchfork), just because you don't "get it", doesn't mean you have to destroy an artists' credibility. Listen to "The Gap" carefully...and be committed to diving below the surface rather than literarily pouting simply because your genius does not surpass Tim Kinsella's.

This is one of those albums that you cannot quite understand when you first listen to it. Some people lacking in substance and artistic sensibility blow it off as pointless noise. I however have greatly come to appreciate the ingenuity and unique edge provided in this collection of avantgarde jems. 'As Black Pants Make Cat Hairs Appear' is one of my favorite songs ever written. I would not even begin hesitating to say that this is Joan of Arc's finest record. If you are tired of the same old indie-garbage floating around out there, pick up this record and trip out on its majestic beauty and chaos.

Another mans trash is another mans treasure, but this album is no trash. JOA's "the gap" is yet another, very original, super great album. "The Gap" is one of those very rewarding Cd's, once you get get a taste of that flavor.

There is one problem. There really are a total of six songs or so on this album. Tracks 3, 4, and 5 really are the same song. And 5 and 6 for some reason is the same song split into two tracks. But those are petty dislikes really. The album is amazing. The only reason that I didn't give it five stars is because of the fact that there isn't a whole lot of songs, and some of the songs go on a little to long. But all in all, simply one the of the best of the year.

I really liked their style in previous albums, but it seems to me that they've overstretched the conceptual side of their music so much that they've abandoned the idea of creating music people actually like to listen to.

After listening to this album a few times, i started to wonder if it wasn't just some big joke that i wasn't in on. Unless you're a diehard fan, or really into experimental music for its own sake, i would recommend saving your money.