Courtesy of Brantley Gutierrez
The Rentals announced on Facebook today that their latest album (actually their first in fifteen years) Lost in Alphaville is now officially available on vinyl. “If you don’t live near a record store,” which, sadly, is becoming true for many people across the nation, “you can order one here,” says the announcement. The band is currently on tour in support of their new album, with three upcoming show dates: Thursday, September 25th in Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer, Friday, September 26th at Stoney Pony in Asbury Park, NJ and they will be hitting Irving Plaza on Saturday, September 27th, for those fans of The Rentals in the New York tri-state area. The album was released August 26th by Polyvinyl Record Company, and is actually a compilation of ten revamped songs from The Rentals’ previous album, Time.
Frontman (and former Weezer bassist) Matt Sharp (the sole constant player in The Rentals) explained to the Speakeasy section of The Wall Street Journal, the difference of this album from previous ones. “This album is very different from any record I’ve worked on in the past,” he explains. “Traditionally, at least from my experience, if you’re recording an album and you go into the studio, you have your band and you just record a bunch of songs and you just sort of sort through them. With this album,” he says, “basically the songs themselves as far as the lyrics and the chords and basic melodies were already done.” The difference primarily being that, “The first two Rentals records certainly weren’t done that way and the first two Weezer records certainly weren’t done that way. It was just a different way of looking at things and something you could always lean back on.”
The collaborating musicians on this album include drummer Patrick Carney of Black Keys, guitarist Ryen Slegr of Ozma, vocalists Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe of Lucius, and Lauren Chipman, and mixer D. Sardy. The resulting effort was a contemporary indie rock album with a rather large sound. The songs hand selected for use by Sharp were drawn from the band’s 2009 project Songs About Time. Despite the fact that Sharp recorded tracks with each of the collaborating artists individually, flying first from L.A., then on the Nashville, etc., the album has a surprising team-effort vibe to it. Fans are absolutely stoked on it. “I feel that Songs About Time can be viewed as the unfinished demos for the ones on Alphaville,” posted Steve Poholski under The Rentals’ announcement about the record’s availability on vinyl. “Glad I have both,” he continues.
“This CD has been playing in my car continuously since I got it. Absolutely love it,” he concludes. Others concurred, “I ordered it and it’s amazing. It’s a great album with an awesome lineup of musicians,” posted Bullets N’ Lace. Order the album and decide for yourself if the revisited versions of these songs surpass the originals. The tracklist for Lost in Alphaville is listed here: 1. It’s Time to Come Home, 2. Traces of Our Tears, 3. Stardust, 4. 1000 Seasons, 5. Damaris, 6. Irrational Things, 7. Thought of Sound, 8. Song of Remembering, 9. Seven Years, 10. The Future. Check back in with FDRMX after The Rentals’ show at Irving Plaza for a full event review (complete with set list) and photo gallery from the concert!