I wrote this email to a friend:
i tried to avoid specifics, this is my general impressions:
it's fucking amazing and still growing on me. even the seemingly dumb one (from the 30 second clips) is emerging well with a few listens. and there are some truly brilliant lyrics, a few bonoisms that you just have to roll your eyes at but he gets away with it because the music is so brilliant you hardly notice, and even some non-earnest, self-mocking, playful lyrics. the songs are narrative, they are beautiful in lyrics and music, i even like goyb better in context, though it is one of my least favorite on the album. the music is original, atmospheric, rocking in some places, gives me chills in others. It ends very, very well, very abruptly.
that is my unabashedly gushing review with 2 full listens, now i'm replaying favorites. obviously i will let it age, but the music is creative and wonderful, the lyrics...i didn't know bono had these lyrics in him. and it is an album that after both listens left me feeling like i'd been taken on an emotional ride and left me exhausted.
some vague specifics:
one song's lyrics in particular are just perfect, narrative, full of layered insights and brilliant imagery (Cedars)
there's 2-3 that are gonna be heartlands/acrobats and we'll probably never hear them live but we'd weep if we did. (MOS, WAS, Fez)
one potentially dumb one isn't at all, another is not as dumb as I thought it would be and is still growing on me. (Crazy Tonight, Stand Up)
the beginning and end are phenomenal, the middle is a little bit weaker.
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My other big thought from a chat with another fan is that it makes me appreciate atyclb/htdaab more:
well, they also needed to put out that safe album to do this one, i thinkthen needed to regret being too safe, too constricted
i think that produced the atmosphere that birthed nloth
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Anyway, I am very, very pleased with the album.
