New SLOAN album "Commonwealth" due Sept 9!

Finally some news from the Sloan camp:

(via Facebook)

'ELO Kiddies!! Big news to share is our new album "Commonwealth" will be out September 9th. You can pre-order it digitally on iTunes and grab “Keep Swinging (Downtown)” as an instant download NOW! Physical Pre-Order info coming soon.

http://www.wonderingsound.com/news/sloan-commonwealth-solo-sided-double-album/

Sloan’s 11th studio album — and first in three years — is shaping up to be a little bit different. On September 9, the Canadian power-pop heroes will release Commonwealth via Yep Roc, with the added wrinkle that it’s “a solo-sided double album,” as the label puts it.
That means each of the quartet’s four members — Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott — will get his own half of a vinyl record on this one. They self-produced Commonwealth with assistance from Ryan Haslett and Gregory McDonald. Recording the 15-song set in Toronto took a year due to what Scott, in a statement, said was “a combination of availability, determination, readiness, willingness, intentionality, hoping, wanting, doubting, fearing, needing, waffling, trying, failing, restarting, assembling, writing and eventually deciding and trusting.”
“You can’t help but have someone say it’s like the Kiss albums,” Sloan’s Murphy told Exclaim about the solo-sided concept last year, referring to the makeup-wearing band’s quadruple 1978 solo albums. “And that’s fine, it is like the Kiss albums. Except that they were successful right up until they did their solo albums. We haven’t been successful for a long time.”
The follow-up to 2011′s Never Hear the End of It is available for pre-order here. You’ll get an instant download of Pentland’s fist-pumper “Keep Swinging (Downtown),” which moves into a delicate acoustic section after starting out all Thin Lizzy swagger (hmm, do you think the guys from Free Energy would be available to tour together?). Also check out contributor Barry Walters’ review of Sloan’s beloved Twice Removed and Parallel Play.
Discover: Yep Roc Records

 

Yes! I have been waiting for this announcement for quite some time. Looking forward to this. It will be interesting to see how these "solo albums" turn out.

 

I've always thought that they had 3 good writers and one not terribly good one. It'll be interesting if his side holds up or not.

 

Okay, I'll bite. Andrew, I suppose?

 

Just realized the above article is wrong in saying that the last album was Never Hear The End Of It...got the year right, just not the album title.

 

I was going to guess Patrick.

 

I could see that too. Back in the day, they both wrote some great stuff (IMO). In recent years, Andrew's material has gotten more and more eclectic -- and less integral to the overall Sloan sound. Meanwhile, Patrick's been somewhat cookie-cutter, dumbed down, and hasn't paved too many new paths...but has still been "textbook Sloan". It will be interesting to see what they all have to offer in blocks of music this time out. I think we're going to hear lots of variety throughout each side.

 

I was thinking just the other day, "Man, I really could use a new Sloan album right now." Two months isn't too long to wait.

Sloan is one of my few instant-purchase artists of recent years. All I'm missing of the original albums is Navy Blues, which I'm sure I'll get one of these days.

 

It's actually Jay.

 

Ha, Jay's my favourite writer in the group.
Patrick's stuff has been disappointing for some time now; Chris is treading water; and Andrew is getting far too normal.

 

Really???? I'm quite surprised at that -- I think he's possibly the most consistently good writer they've got!

 

That was my guess. I've always thought of him as the weak link.

 

Not a big fan of his singing either.

 

This is great news! I thought it was time for a new Sloan album. It's been three years since the last one, and a lot of indie acts seem to be on three-year cycles between albums. I think "The Double Cross" was their best album since "Between the Bridges" (and I think a lot of that is Jay's songs!) and so I am really excited about this one.

The four-solo-sides conceit is an interesting one. If you look at the tracklisting on the iTunes preorder page, Andrew's side is one song, "Forty-Eight Portraits", that's nearly 18 minutes long.

 

Weird Andrew is back! Sounds like the song features his dog, Tommy.

 

It kind of figures that Andrew would get side 4, aka the 'Revolution #9' side.

 

I used to think that too, but there's been a steady progression since One Chord, IMO. He's actually written several of my favorite songs of theirs since then; Witch's Wand is going through my head as I type this. OTOH, I can't remember the last time a song of Patrick's has grabbed me.

 

I'm surprised with all the Patrick knocking. It think he's stuff has been the most consistent. I've listened to"Unkind" from the last album probably more than any other song over the past 5 years.

 

Tracklist at Wikipedia. Jay gets side 1. Chris side 2. Pat side 3. Andrew side 4.

Ah no way, Jay has REALLY stepped it up lately.. I love his stuff on "The Double Cross."
Pat took a nosedive at some point.. around "Pretty Together" perhaps.

Andrew was excellent on "Navy Blues" and "Between the Bridges." Some of the stuff since has been less memorable, but still solid, in my opinion.

Consistently phoned-in.

 

Interesting to hear everyone's choice as the weakest member. I think that Jay and Chris consistently have the best songs these days. Andrew is usually decent and Patrick is very hit and miss. I find myself not enjoying Patricks brand of harder rock....though occasionally, he comes up with a gem.

It sounds like there will be some special releases for this album. As usual, will have to pick up the vinyl and CD versions.

 

Diamond (Ferguson):

1. We’ve Come This Far
2. You’ve Got a Lot on Your Mind
3. Three Sisters
4. Cleopatra
5. Neither Here Nor There

Heart (Murphy):

6. Carried Away
7. So Far So Good
8. Get Out
9. Misty’s Beside Herself
10. You Don’t Need Excuses to Be Good

Shamrock (Pentland):

11. 13 (Under a Bad Sign)
12. Take It Easy
13. What’s Inspire
14. Keep Swinging (Downtown)

Spade (Scott):

15. Forty-Eight Portraits

 

Okay, I feel like I'm breaking a huge news story here: Andrew has just confirmed that the dog heard barking in 'Forty-eight Portraits' is indeed his girl Tommy.
(I'm a dog geek. I care about this stuff).

 

FYI, One Chord To Another and Twice Removed are free MP3 albums for Amazon Prime members.

 

Yeah, I agree that "Unkind" is a great track -- just listened to The Double Cross today for the first time in ages, and that song is a standout. I do think that he's had fewer and fewer memorable tracks per album over the past several years, though.

Starting with Never Hear The End Of It, I've found that Jay and Chris have consistently knocked it out of the park, whereas Patrick seems to miss the mark (IMO) more often than he should. I kind of consider Patrick's songs to be the "Sloan sound". Problem is, in recent years, a lot of his stuff has the sound, but the tunes just aren't grabbing me. I'm looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table this time around, but this lead track isn't blowing me away, to be honest.

 

I just think he's in a bit of a rut with the 70's riff schtick.