Untethered Moon is the eighth studio album by American rock band Built to Spill. The album was released on vinyl for Record Store Day on April 18, 2015, and on CD and digital format on April 21, 2015. It is the band's first album in nearly six years, since 2009's There Is No Enemy, making it the band's longest delay between studio albums up to that point.
Frontman Doug Martsch explained: It is the first album to feature Steve Gere (drums) and Jason Albertini (bass), replacing Scott Plouf and Brett Nelson respectively, who both left the group in 2012.
The album was announced on February 5, 2015, along with a tour schedule beginning in March. The track "Living Zoo" was released via SoundCloud on February 24, 2015. The official music video for “Living Zoo” premiered on Noisey on March 25, 2015.
Critical reception
The album has received praise, with critics and fans alike noting a revived energy within the band as well as Doug Marstch's consistently impressive guitar work. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Untethered Moon has received an average score of 76, based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! wrote that Untethered Moon is "arguably the most enjoyable Built to Spill album since 1999's pivotal Keep It Like A Secret," citing "a directness to these songs that has been missing for a few albums."
Track listing All music written by Built to Spill and all lyrics by Built to Spill with Karena Youtz
Personnel Built to Spill Doug Martsch – guitars, vocals, backing vocals Jason Albertini – bass Steve Gere – drums Additional musicians Sam Coomes – shaker, piano, Mellotron, keyboards Caitlin Gallupe – additional backing vocals Duncan MacConnell – additional backing vocals Jordan Minkoff – additional backing vocals
Production Sam Coomes – producer, recorder, mixer Doug Martsch – producer, mixer, cover design Adam Lee – recorder, mixer Larry Crame – recorder Travis Harrison – mixer Jeremy Sherrer – mixer (honorable mention) Jamal Rune – masterer Tamara Shores – cover design Karena Youtz – cover design John Shinn – band photo Erin Cunningham – back cover painting
References