{"id":29899,"date":"2025-08-18T05:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T09:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29899"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:48:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:48:21","slug":"album-review-the-long-distance-relationship-when-the-walls-come-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/18\/album-review-the-long-distance-relationship-when-the-walls-come-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Long Distance Relationship \u2013 When the Walls Come Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Long Distance Relationship<\/a> rose out of the debris of Hurricane Katrina, and its leader, Dave Baker resettled in Asheville NC. The \u201cgroup\u201d has always had a revolving cast built around a core of players. As heard on this recording, Long Distance Relationship is part solo project, part band effort, part collective with songwriter, instrumentalist and singer Dave Baker as its center of gravity. And it all hangs together. When the Walls Come Down<\/i> (the album, not to be confused with a 2021 EP of the same name) is TLDR\u2019s latest project.<\/p>\n

The moody, minor-key \u201cHidden Sun\u201d has a subtly psychedelic character, one that\u2019s effectively achieved without relying on any of the standard-issue psych tropes like wah-wah or phasing. Ian Reardon\u2019s soaring guitar leads propel the tune into space, and the whole trip is an alluring sonic excursion.<\/p>\n

\u201cTiny Wires\u201d has a catch \u201880s alternarock feel, with a propulsive arrangement that draws the listener in and hold their attention. On the surface, Baker\u2019s coming-at-you-fast-and-furious lyrics concern technology, but there\u2019s some metaphorical, interpersonal content within. Two very different guitar breaks add a nice bit of texture and variety to the tune.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen It\u2019s Right There\u201d features Baker on all instruments save drums (those are ably handled by Chris Tullar). The song\u2019s disorienting, multi-layered arrangement adds some fascinating instrumental crosstalk to the tune; in places it almost sounds like to different (but complementary) songs rackign alongside one another in parallel.<\/p>\n

With some peppy, straightforward Wurlitzer keyboard textures, There\u2019s a bouncy, singalong vibe to \u201cWhen the Walls Come Down.\u201d Like the preceding track, it\u2019s another nearly all-Baker performance, this time with Chris Carter on drums. (Carter, like Tullar and several of Baker\u2019s musical compatriots, is a multi-instrumentalist whose various talents are effectively employed throughout When the Walls Come Down<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Like \u201cHidden Sun,\u201d \u201cDirty Little Secret\u201d has been in Long Distance Relationship\u2019s live set list for some time. Those songs were good back then; they\u2019re even better, more sharply defined, in their 2025 recorded versions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrelude\u201d is a bit of studio sonic trickery; sound effects, really. On its own the track seems \u2013 at first, at least \u2013 a bit out of place. But once \u201cWe Never Spoke\u201d unfolds, its alluring Bowie-esque character lets the listener know how \u201cPrelude\u201d fits into the larger puzzle. It features a Mellotron-like keyboard textures and a hypnotic vocal part in which the lyrical lines seem to tumble over one another in a delightful way. (This one was in TLDR\u2019s set all those years ago as well.)<\/p>\n

Slashing, distorted guitar forms the center of \u201cFight Tonight,\u201d easily the rocking-est tune on the album so far. Some tasty Farfisa-styled keyboards add interest. Elzy Lindsey\u2019s intense, rapid-fire drumming brings even more energy. Baker\u2019s lead vocal is buried in a murky mix, but that production choice seems to be a deliberate one, not a mistake. And it does indeed work in this context.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust Let Me Know\u201d seamlessly combines a pop feel with a hazy psychedelic feel. It\u2019s the most conventionally pop song (meant in the best way) on this set. \u201cAdolescence\u201d features a different vocalist \u2013 Amy Kett \u2013 taking the lead. Her vocal texture and character take the album in a very different direction. The instrumental components of the song \u2013 mostly by Baker with lead guitar by Robert Vicknair \u2013 help keep it rooted in an aesthetic connected to the rest of the album.<\/p>\n

With its repeated guitar figures and angular chord changes, \u201cBanks of the River\u201d is reminiscent of Television, or \u2013 for a more geographically relevant connection \u2013 Alarm Clock Conspiracy, a long-gone but fondly-remembered art-rock group from Asheville. The instrumental breakdown that forms the song\u2019s second half has a spaghetti-western feel, with bits of keyboard that suggest Rick Wright circa 1968.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kindest\u201d finds Baker handling all the vocals and instruments, joined only by cicadas. It\u2019s contemplative and lovely way to close the album. The Long Distance Relationship\u2019s current live dates feature material from this album and TLDR\u2019s back catalog. The live lineup finds Baker joined by Tullar, Carter and Steve Hall, all of whom helped make this album the effective collection that it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Long Distance Relationship rose out of the debris of Hurricane Katrina, and its leader, Dave Baker resettled in Asheville NC. The \u201cgroup\u201d has always had a revolving cast built […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,62,65],"tags":[2794],"class_list":["post-29899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-review","tag-the-long-distance-relationship","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29901,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899\/revisions\/29901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}