Author: time as a color

…and here’ what the alternative had to say about it:

“…{these} are the last songs the band had in the vault. It’s hard to imagine why these stayed there so long; the four rarities here rank among Wishes on a Plane’s best. The opening “Untitled” captures the messiness that made so much of the emo of the 1990s so powerful—all overlapping vocals clamoring to cut through, like Becker’s tripping over his words to get it all out, and sudden dynamic shifts with a real sense of tension and release. That formula gets streamlined a bit on “What’s Left of What Is” to great effect, the band pulling back every every chorus only to come back even louder, like hikers losing their footing climbing a mountain, and the version of “Anywhere” that appears here heightens the contrast between its softest and heaviest moments. The album takes a bit of a detour between “Untitled” and “What’s Left of What Is” with “Tide,” which allows the band a chance to cut straight to the hook—it’s the most straightforward emo-pop song Wishes on a Plane has put out. The acoustic songs that close Lost Songs are a nice addition, but they don’t sound too far off from Becker’s more recent work with Amid the Old Wounds. With just his voice and a guitar, they aren’t as dynamic as the songs that precede them. They ultimately serve as reminders of the potential this band had; who knows what a song like “New Year’s Eve,” the prettiest and most compelling of the three, could’ve become? In the end, though, it’s hard to think of higher praise: one’s left wondering what more could have been. There are, undoubtedly, countless other emo bands from the same era whose work was lost to time. Thankfully Wishes on a Plane isn’t one of them anymore”

here’s where to head if you are a streaming or mp3 person

the vinyl version is being pressed on dark red marbled or light gray marbled vinyl, limited to 110 copies each, and is being co-released with old kids records in germany, rufen publishings in japan and new knee records in the us. it comes in a plain gray jacket, bound by a red stripe, stickered in the front and back. the main imagery depicts wood prints of weathered growth rings. subtle, yet powerful, they remind us that time leaves marks and memories. fitting with a posthumous collection, I’d say. various prints of the same slice of wood are spread over 8 sheets of paper, housed in a small gray envelope, which is handnumbered. those sheets feature lyrics and liner notes on their flipside.

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