Album Review: The Dear Hunter - Migrant

Album Rating: B

For Casey Crescenzo and The Dear Hunter, the most ambitious record they've written to date is the one that on paper seems relatively tame. However, after years and years of writing record after record with a deep overlying concept, it makes sense that Migrant may be the hardest to write to date. There are no cinematics masking the music, no storyline running through the lyrics, and no general mood or theme guiding the tracks. For the first time as The Dear Hunter, Crescenzo simply wrote an album.

Interview With Casey Crescenzo (The Dear Hunter) (3/23/13)

When starting out in music journalism, I knew exactly what I wanted to do-- show who musicians really are. Music can say so much, but even if an album speaks perfectly for itself, its creator can, as Casey Crescenzo told me, come across as some "cloudheaded" figure. This is silly, of course-- musicians are just as human as we are-- but it can be hard to realize that, especially in this time of readily accessible music.

Artist of the Day: The Dear Hunter

Let's face it: there's no way to properly sum up what the Dear Hunter has accomplished in the last five years. Casey Crescenzo and company has torn up the indie scene from one album to the next, between the theatrical storytelling of the Act albums to the remarkably diverse Color Spectrum EPs. Every album the group has released has pushed the envelope of the indie realm in some regard, and refined the band's sound even further.

Artist Of The Day: The Dear Hunter

It's been two years since Casey Crescenzo and the rest of The Dear Hunter released their extremely ambitious nine EP set The Color Spectrum, and now the band is finally gearing up again to release a brand new album. Migrant is the title, and amazingly enough, this is the first record that the band has done that isn't tied to a deep concept. Crescenzo has stated that Migrant feels like "the most creatively rewarding" album he's released, a thought that seems crazy after an unfinished six act story arc and The Color Spectrum, but after hearing the album's first track "Whisper," it doesn't feel entirely off base. The song feels closest to the White EP with a build up into an enormous chorus, but the strings that dominate a majority of the song bring it life and energy that can only signal great things for this record. You can watch an album trailer, stream "Whisper," preorder the new record, and check out the band's tour dates on their website.

Eli's First Annual Year End Album Tournament

Welcome, welcome, to Eli’s first annual “Year End Tournament.” Here I indulge in egregious amounts of pretentious tomfoolery, all in attempt to wrap up my final thoughts on music in 2011.

Show Review: The Dear Hunter Headliner Featuring O'Brother and Deas Vail

Seamless transitions dominated Jammin' Java on August 14th, 2011, as The Dear Hunter and friends took over the venue. As the band's first headlining tour after releasing the nine disk The Color Spectrum, the majority of songs came from this widely varied collection of music. While it seems almost impossible to move from one style to another to even another in the course of three songs, Casey Crescenzo and the rest of The Dear Hunter did so without missing a beat, hopping from one end of the spectrum to the other side without losing momentum in either the band or the crowd. O'Brother and Deas Vail supported The Dear Hunter perfectly, launching off magnificent sets on the road to the crown performance of the night.

The Dear Hunter-The Color Spectrum (Complete)

As bold as this may sound, The Dear Hunter’s multi-EP project, The Color Spectrum, is one of the most exhilarating, forward-thinking, and creative musical endeavors of the past several years. Casey Cresenzo and company have truly outdone themselves, creating a thematic package almost too grand in scope to be digestible. These pieces that make up the entire project aren’t half-assed demos thrown together to make a semi-coherent, pretentious concept, but rather, a fully realized, sincerely crafted collection of thoughtful songs. Some hit, while others miss, but regardless, The Color Spectrum has potential to be the soundtrack to almost anyone’s summer.

Album Review: The Dear Hunter-The Color Spectrum (Compilation)

It really wasn’t a surprise when The Dear Hunter announced an album for each color in the color spectrum, really, it wasn’t. After all, ambitious mutli-album concepts aren’t exactly foreign to them. For years the band has been working on a seven-part concept detailing the story of a prostitute and her illegitimate son. War, love, and lust all play large roles in the overarching tale, making for a grand suite that to this day is still less than half complete. Apparently, the creation of said album series was as exhausting as it sounds, for The Color Spectrum sees the band step out of their comfort zone, experimenting with new sounds, new ideas, and more importantly, a fresher sense of creativity.

The Dear Hunter Color Spectrum Announcement

The long awaited Color Spectrum EPs have finally been officially announced. June 7th will be the day that this beautiful series of concept EPs will grace our presence. As stated in many interviews, the songs for each of the different colors will represent what they "feel like" to The Dear Hunter's mastermind Casey Crescenzo. The concept of The Dear Hunter's Act series has already been a beautiful journey, and The Color Spectrum shouldn't be much different. It may even be a pleasant departure from the epic storyline of the band's other releases, and may allow one to more strongly enjoy and inhale each individual track. The series of EPs will be released as a vinyl box set, an absolutely stunning piece to add to anyone's collection. The progress of recording the EPs can be found on the band's special website.

Interview With Casey Crescenzo (The Dear Hunter, TREOS)

Casey Crescenzo from The Dear Hunter has agreed to take a few questions with me about topics such as the TREOS re-release, the future of TREOS, the background of The Dear Hunter's albums' stories, the color spectrum, and upcoming touring. Read it after the jump.