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Bishop Allen
Dear Bishop Allen,
I'm sorry I doubted you. See, it was rough seeing you go from the rough-sewn pop of Charm School to rising blog-stars. And Clementines? Remember when we were all waiting around for you guys to release a new album, and we thought maybe it was going to be on this label or that label? And then things changed. You rescued a piano off the street. You started a crazy project -- 12 EPs in 12 months? What, are you nuts? And the songs started changing. What was once "the Bishop Allen formula" was no longer. There was experimentation, grandiose experimentation. Before, you were the little band that could, with ramshackle melodies and a refreshing naivete. And, as usually happens, that band grew into something else.
I'll admit, the prospect of four new songs a month from a band I admired, a band I wanted to see succeed had me both joyful and worried. Could you actually do it? Would this be the straw that broke the camel's back? Or would the songs actually suck simply because you were forced to produce, produce, produce. I must say that around April or May I simply got tired of ordering another new EP every month, watching my mailbox for that EP, and listening to those four new songs, wondering exactly where Bishop Allen, my little-unsigned-band-that-could was going? After a while, I just got overexposed and had to take a vacation from Bishop Allen. I felt guilty, but it was necessary, and I knew you guys would probably be waiting when I returned.
Well, it's March 2007 now. You guys did it. It took blood, sweat, and tears, but you put out 12 EPs. OK, so, one of them was a recording of a live show, but managing to release all that new material in a single year? That's a pretty big accomplishment. And the Bishop Allen that I missed? Turns out it was there all along. But now, older, wiser, more polished, more confident, but still writing those same amazingly catchy pop hooks, just in different forms.
So: good job. Congratulations. And see you soon.
Love,
Queen of the Front Row
Bishop Allen - Charm School
Bishop Allen - Central Booking
Bishop Allen - History of Excuses
Bishop Allen - Calendar
Visit Bishop Allen's official site.
Posted by Queen of the Front Row at 03.10.07 at 5:09 PM
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