{"id":508,"date":"2010-02-04T09:54:27","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T15:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=508"},"modified":"2010-02-04T09:54:27","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T15:54:27","slug":"review-port-obrien-threadbare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2010\/02\/04\/review-port-obrien-threadbare\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Port O&#8217;Brien &#8211; Threadbare"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>PORT O\u2019BRIEN<br \/>\n<em>Threadbare<\/em><br \/>\n<\/strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-509\" title=\"port-obrien\" src=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/port-obrien.jpg\" alt=\"port-obrien\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" \/>Over the course of their career, California\u2019s Port O\u2019Brien has pretty much held the same steady course, producing similarly sweet sing-alongs riding on rickety arrangements, unpolished vocals, and campfire aesthetics. On their latest LP, <em>Threadbare<\/em>, the trio takes a very familiar, if-it-ain\u2019t-broke approach to their songwriting. They only occasionally include some autumnal, Arcade Fire-esque orchestration, but they generally maintain their established formula. Somber, fleeting numbers like \u201cIn the Meantime\u201d and \u201c(((Darkness Visible)))\u201d roll at the same quarter-speed pacing you\u2019ve come to expect from a band like this, meditating on themes of loss and mortality\u2014no doubt a result of vocalist Cambria Goodwin\u2019s brother passing away early last year. To that end, Goodwin is far more of a presence across <em>Threadbare,<\/em> taking on almost half of the lead vocal duty. It\u2019s a nice touch, bringing a diversity to the arrangements that previous releases have been lacking. She manages to pull the album away from what could potentially be clunky, endlessly downtrodden material. However, diversity is something that Threadbare is sorely missing. After the fifth dense, slowly-strummed track, it\u2019s obvious that there is no \u201cI Woke Up Today\u201d to be found here. The only reprieve is the punchy \u201cLeap Year,\u201d the one truly upbeat song out of 13. The uninterrupted slow tread of the album makes it easy for monotony to set in early. Threadbare is more cohesive, thematically and sonically, than the band\u2019s previous efforts, but it\u2019s missing the energetic optimism they\u2019ve had in the past. (TBD, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tbdrecords.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.tbdrecords.com<\/a>) <strong>Kevan Hannah<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PORT O\u2019BRIEN Threadbare Over the course of their career, California\u2019s Port O\u2019Brien has pretty much held the same steady course, producing similarly sweet sing-alongs riding on rickety arrangements, unpolished vocals, and campfire aesthetics. On their latest LP, Threadbare, the trio takes a very familiar, if-it-ain\u2019t-broke approach to their songwriting. They only occasionally include some autumnal, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[753],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-port-obrien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}