Posted by Jack in 2010 | 2 Comments
Titus Andronicus’ “A More Perfect Union”
Who knew that the American Civil War could be such fertile creative grounds for songwriting? The Dirty Projectors did it on The Getty Address in 2005, and now Titus Andronicus is releasing The Monitor, another concept album inspired by the War Between the States, which takes its name from an ironclad Union battleship. The album is set for a March 9th 2010 release date, which is almost a full 144 years after President Johnson’s 1866 presidential proclamation of peace and civil authority.
The latest track from The Monitor to circulate through the internet is the seven-minute album-opener “A More Perfect Union”. This track sprawls. Titus Andronicus are making much more than a Ken Burns rock album, even though there is more than the subtle scent of PBS on “A More Perfect Union”. On this track these New Jersey natives are using a blend field recordings, post-punk, fife and drum, and a healthy dose of drone and distortion in order to craft the desired aural space.
The earnestness with which these guys are approaching this antiquated subject matter is more than a little jarring. Titus doesn’t want to recant old tunes, they want to wet the old blood and dredge up the bones from the harmless looking fields around us. In a way that reenactors and gunpowder could never do for us as kids, Titus Andronicus are using guitars to remind us that history is never sterile, only sanguine.
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this is insanely good, makes me miss jersey so much though
this is insanely good, makes me miss jersey so much though