The New Way Out

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The New Way Out
Studio album by
Rustic Overtones
ReleasedNovember 11, 2009
Recorded2008-2009
GenreRock, jazz, soul, funk, ska
Length61:02
LabelIndependent
ProducerRustic Overtones
Rustic Overtones chronology
Light at the End
(2007) 		The New Way Out
(2009) 		Let's Start a Cult
(2012)

The New Way Out is the sixth

studio album by the Portland, Maine, band Rustic Overtones, released on November 11, 2009. Recorded throughout 2008 and 2009, the album is the band's first since the departure of keyboard player Spencer Albee, and their first full-length release of all-new material since ¡Viva Nueva!. With just over an hour of music, the album is the band's second longest after Long Division and features the most experimental work of their career.[citation needed
]

Background and recording

In 2008, the band set out to start recording their first full-length album of new material since 2001's ¡Viva Nueva!. (Some of

Light At The End's music was previously recorded before the band broke up in 2002, and all but four songs had been previously played live before the break-up.) On September 17, 2008, the band announced on their Myspace that Albee, their keyboard player since 1995's Long Division had left the band. Drummer Tony McNaboe explained that Albee was leaving on good terms, and that the album would continue as planned with multi-instrumentalist Nigel Hall from Lettuce filling in on keyboards.[1] On October 17, 2008, the band premiered the song "The Smallest Spark" at The Asylum in Portland, the first new song of the album to be played live. Word on the new album was scarce until February 4, 2009, when Dave Gutter announced the names of a few new songs that would eventually appear on the album (such as "The Downside Of Looking Up", "Arizona", "The Same Does Not Apply" and "Nuts And Bolts") along with a tentative track listing.[2]
Gutter also explained that the band was experimenting with many different instruments not typical of normal Rustics Overtones albums, which would become apparent in the final album's overall sound.

Little was heard from the band about the new album until August 2009 when the song "The Same Does Not Apply" was premiered on local

Boston, Massachusetts.[5]

Artwork

The artwork for the album is once again done by long-time collaborator Patrick Corrigan, a popular Portland artist and member of Seekonk. The overall style is very similar to the original independent release of Light At The End, with an aesthetic similar to that of pencil drawing in a sketchbook. The inner artwork features a few references to the art from Light At the End, including a man dressed in a rabbit suit and two canoers in a psychedelic landscape. The drawing also features a metal boot with wings, a reference to the artwork for the Rooms by the Hour song "Iron Boots".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Boston Herald(A)[6]

Initial reception to the album was positive. The

Portland Phoenix also praised the album's "textured and dense amalgam of the collected band’s many tastes and endeavors", although it noted that the sound "is far from that core of primal energy that launched the band and drove it to its many heights" and the reviewer remarked that, "I just have to admit I wish this new album had elements of both. I’m awed. I’m amazed. But I’m not bathed in sweat."[8] In a list of the top ten greatest local albums of the decade, the Phoenix ranked New Way Out at number one, calling it "hands-down the crowning local music achievement of the decade", and claiming that "if there is any justice in the musical cosmos, this album will break them nationally."[9]

Track list

All tracks are written by Rustic Overtones

No.TitleLength
1."New Way Out"3:48
2."Everybody Needs To Be Somebody's Friend"4:36
3."Nuts And Bolts"7:52
4."All Together"3:59
5."Like The Blues"6:48
6."Downside Of Looking Up"4:25
7."Love And A 45"3:55
8."Kathleen Caffeine"4:13
9."I Just Can't Shake You"5:14
10."The Same Does Not Apply"3:41
11."Common Cold"3:31
12."Arizona"4:04
13."The Smallest Spark That Beat The Sun"4:56
Total length:61:02

Personnel

References

  1. ^ "PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE OF RUSTIC!!!!!!". Myspace. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  2. ^ "new record". Myspace. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  3. ^ "Win: Play Cowbell in Rustic Overtones". WCYY. August 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  4. ^ "The New Way Out". Myspace. 16 October 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  5. ^ "Rustic Overtones NEW CD!". Bull Moose Music. 1 November 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  6. ^ Convey, Kevin R, "New Way Out > Review", Boston Herald. Accessed on 13 October 2009.
  7. ^ Convey, Kevin R, "New Way Out Review", Boston Herald, 6 November 2009. Accessed on 13 October 2009.
  8. ^ Pfeifle, Sam, "Days of the New", Portland Phoenix, 5 November 2009. Accessed on 13 October 2009.
  9. ^ Gaylord, Charlie, "Albums of the Decade", Portland Phoenix. 23 December 2009. Accessed on 23 December 2009.
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