Ever growing and trying new things, Blue October’s 11th studio album brings nuance, all the feels, and a progressive auditory experience!
Over the pandemic, many bands had a ton of time on their hands. Not only did Blue October make sure we have regular performances and live streams to keep connected, but lead singer Justin Furstenfeld also had weekly intimate live streams to help people in recovery. Justin’s brother and bandmate-drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld-even began making custom drums by hand! The band released albums from their side projects with folks like Steve Schiltz, Charlie Magnone, and former bandmates. On top of all this activity, the multi-faceted fellas in Blue October began the double album Spinning The Truth Around. On October 14th, Part 1 was released with Part 2 in final studio production for a Spring 2023 release.
We get some of our beloved Blue October staples: we get Justin’s honey-soaked crooning and evocative words along with his oak-aged belting. We get fun and funky from bassist Matt Noveskey as well as brooding surrealism. Drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld-ever the heartbeat of this band-playing licks from fun simple shuffles to really exciting fills and driving rhythms. Will Knaak gives us so many layers in his multi-instrumental partnership with Justin’s guitar. And of course, Ryan Delahoussaye-violin, mandolin, and strings extraordinaire-gives us wonderful nuances and further shapes the overall texture of this incredibly bold experience.
The overall soundscape is something uniquely Blue October: beneath an almost dream-like melodic sequence, something dark or angsty lies in wait. Notwithstanding its emotional intelligence, the majority of this first part of the double album definitely feels like the more troubled and emotionally turbulent half of this omnibus of songs and emotions. Blue October gives us a story again.
Spinning The Truth Around Part 1 begins with the title track theme of overcoming the bumps/slumps in relationships and marriages. The album delves us into a landscape of fearless musical growth and feels like a caterpillar-to-butterfly metamorphosis. From painful and fearful starts to the hopefully jubilant outcome. Each song feels like a different chapter. You can feel the band get into a lot more R&B and hip-hop roots as well as a dash of funk. If you’re a die-hard fan of the band over the past quarter century, you’ll notice a lot of these songs seem to come from the archives of the writer’s emotions. We definitely get some of the old angst back circa Argue With A Tree and prior. We even get an almost fully instrumental track with very few words at all. Mostly vocalizations, but gets you deep in the feels.
The band dug deep to explore different soundscapes in this first half. As always with Blue October you will get unfettered honesty and this latest release does not disappoint. Much more experimental than past albums, loads of wonderful new elements and layers drench this album in delicious polyphony. This band forever stretches and grows itself musically. A prime example with When Love Isn’t Good Enough: I can picture Justin draped over a velvet chaise and singing into an old Super 55, a beam of light across his eyes in a darkened, smoky, lush jazz lounge. Justin sings breathily between alluring spoken word verses. We are given a French-language operatic singer accompanied by police sirens and strings for the hook before bringing it back to the song’s theme.
The final song on Part 1 gives us Big Love with a hopeful and nurturing turn as if to foreshadow the tone of Spinning the Truth Around Part 2! Definitely, a song that will have the chorus ringing in your head the first listen-through. It’s catchy and it will inspire the listener to dance like no one is watching! This pensive and honest landscape closes with a voicemail from Justin and Jeremy’s late father.
This whole album feels like more than the 5 members of the band would be seen on stage. It’s an ambitious and satisfying offering from humble Up/Down Studios and producer Eric Holtz has really shown us his studio production chops! This album feels perfect for a contemplative night drive through rainy streets.
