{"product_id":"lean-year-sides-new-vinyl-lp","title":"Lean Year - Sides  (New Vinyl LP)","description":"\u003cdiv id=\"aec-product-description\" class=\"col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"aec-desc-label\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDescription\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"aec-desc-review collapse\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThere is a moment on Sides, the new album from Richmond, Virginia-based duo Lean\u003c\/p\u003eYear, in which a hospital room floor is filled with white chrysanthemums. This imagery, based on an opiate-induced hallucination experienced by vocalist Emilie Rex's mother as she recovered from surgery, is a perfect encapsulation of the band's second album: dreamlike and beautiful, yet burdened with cold, stark reality. Sides is a harrowing journey through realms of grief and memory, a meditation woven into a tapestry of synth pads, woodwinds, and Rex's instantly recognizable voice. The duo of Rex and Rick Alverson-who also works as a film director (The Mountain, Entertainment, The Comedy)-originally set out to write an album about conflict, but during the writing and recording process, they were confronted with a number of personal tragedies. Alverson lost both of his parents in rapid succession, Rex's mother received a cancer diagnosis, and the couple's beloved family dog, Orca, died. These events transformed the album into an exploration of loss-an attempt at processing the painful, complex, and private emotions that bubble to the surface when confronted with death. \"We thought we'd do a concept album called Sides where we could reflect on all of the division in the world, and some in our own families, but then COVID transformed everything\/everyone, and we suffered our own specific losses. The record became about loss and grief,\" Rex explains. \"In this way, the title Sides was still appropriate: our individual grief and collective grief, the margins of before and after, the act and feeling of during and enduring. It felt like straddling a threshold between two opposing sides-the moment before conflict and the moment after it passes, life and death, the act of living and the memory of the act. Grief feels like a contention between what you knew and what you now know, and often both feel real and unreal at once. \" Sides-produced by Alverson alongside Erik Hall (In Tall Buildings) and featuring contributions from Elliot Bergman (Nomo, Wild Belle) and Joseph Shabason (Destroyer, The War on Drugs)-has a distinctly cinematic quality, perhaps due in part to Alverson's other career. Moments of jazz, slowcore, and dirgelike R\u0026amp;B find their way into the sorrowful, ambient suite, lulling the listener into a state of calm while the lyrics speak of ghosts, childhood, and mortality. Despite the gravity of the subject matter, Sides succeeds in mastering a balancing act between pathos and pop. Each song is indelible and haunting, with melodies that have the kind of broad appeal reminiscent of Karen Dalton, Aldous Harding, and FKA twigs.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"aec-musictabs\" class=\"ui-tabs ui-widget ui-widget-content ui-corner-all\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"ui-tabs-nav ui-helper-reset ui-helper-clearfix ui-widget-header ui-corner-all\" role=\"tablist\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"ui-state-default ui-corner-top\" role=\"tab\" aria-controls=\"mt-2\" aria-labelledby=\"MusicCredits\" aria-selected=\"false\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mt-1\" aria-labelledby=\"MusicTracks\" class=\"ui-tabs-panel ui-widget-content ui-corner-bottom\" role=\"tabpanel\" aria-hidden=\"false\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"aec-jukebox\" class=\"tracksonly\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"jp-playlist tracksonly\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cul data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e Legs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e Nitetime\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e3\u003c\/span\u003e End\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e The Trouble with Being Warm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e5\u003c\/span\u003e Panes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e6\u003c\/span\u003e Bend\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e7\u003c\/span\u003e Bad Woman\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e8\u003c\/span\u003e Marriage of Heaven and Hell\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e9\u003c\/span\u003e Home\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"mysite","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54238829248853,"sku":null,"price":4.6,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1014\/9711\/0869\/files\/lean-year-sides-new-vinyl-lp-753489.jpg?v=1782715940","url":"https:\/\/vinylalpine.com\/products\/lean-year-sides-new-vinyl-lp","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}