The Unnatural World

The Unnatural World is the second studio album by American rock duo Have a Nice Life. It was released on February 4, 2014, via The Flenser and the band's own record label Enemies List Home Recordings. It is a follow-up to 2008's Deathconsciousness and 2010's Time of Land EP.[6]

The Unnatural World
Studio album by
Have a Nice Life
ReleasedFebruary 4, 2014 (2014-02-04)[1]
Recorded2008–2012
Genre
Length47:20
LabelEnemies List Home Recordings,
The Flenser
Have a Nice Life chronology
Time of Land
(2010)		 The Unnatural World
(2014)		 Sea of Worry
(2019)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic79/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AbsolutePunk9.25/10[3]
Pitchfork Media7.8/10[4]
Unrecorded78/100[5]
theneedledrop8/10

The band recorded the album from 2008 to 2012 "in various bedrooms" between Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to its liner notes. The tracks "Defenestration Song" and "Burial Society" premiered in December 2013 and January 2014, respectively.[7][8][9] The full album was streamed by Pitchfork Media from January 20 to January 27, 2014.[6]

Tracks and musical style

Andrew Sacher and Wyatt Marshall of BrooklynVegan wrote that "the album falls somewhere between goth, noise, shoegaze and post-punk." They also described the album as "addictively melodic for such dark music."[10]

Noisey Vice stated that the song "Burial Society" had "a Nine Inch Nails-meets-post-punk vibe," which "evidenced Have a Nice Life's leanings on the sonic dark side in the record.[8] Lars Gotrich of NPR described the track "Defenestration Song" as "the kind of pitch-black, post-punk party-rocker that'd really turn up at any Goth Night dance." He also wrote: "A two-note guitar riff is barely heard above the dank din as warming feedback permeates the whole affair, like the kind that lulls you to sleep just before an icy death" while comparing the song's rhythm and distorted bass line to the works of the gothic rock pioneers Bauhaus.[7]

Of the track "Dan and Tim, Reunited by Fate", Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that "the pair cherrypick tropes from a number of bleak traditions: reverb-drenched industrial beats; doom-metal sludge; shoegaze drones conjured from effects pedals; post-punk bass chuggery; a plaintive piano+static post-rock crescendo." Tiny Mix Tapes also wrote that the band holds this genre palette together "by matching its compositional ambitions with idiosyncratic recording and production techniques."[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga

No.TitleLength
1."Guggenheim Wax Museum"5:14
2."Defenestration Song"6:02
3."Burial Society"6:40
4."Music Will Untune the Sky"5:00
5."Cropsey"7:10
6."Unholy Life"2:50
7."Dan and Tim, Reunited by Fate"5:35
8."Emptiness Will Eat the Witch"8:49
Total length:47:20

Personnel
Have a Nice Life
  • Dan Barrett - performance, writing
  • Tim Macuga - performance, writing
Production
  • Kevin Blackler - mastering

References
  1. "Have A Nice Life – Unnatural World". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  2. "Unnatural World". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  3. Collum, Chris (6 February 2014). "Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World". AbsolutePunk. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  4. Heller, Jason (6 February 2014). "Have a Nice Life: The Unnatural World". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  5. Abraham, Barnabas (5 February 2014). "Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World". Unrecorded. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  6. "Stream New LPs From Have a Nice Life, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, and Jess Williamson Via Pitchfork Advance". Pitchfork Media. January 20, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  7. Gotrich, Lars (December 11, 2013). "Viking's Choice: This Song Is Literally For Throwing Stuff Out The Window". NPR.org. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  8. "Listen to: "Have a Nice Life's new tune, 'Burial Society'"". Vice. January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  9. Darville, Jordan (January 22, 2014). "Listen: Connecticut shoegaze band Have A Nice Life's punishing new song, "Burial Society"". ChartAttack. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  10. Sacher, Andrew and Wyatt Marshall (January 24, 2014). "Have A Nice Life and Woods of Desolation streaming new LPs (listen to both)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  11. "Have A Nice Life - "Dan And Tim, Reunited By Fate"". Tiny Mix Tapes. January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
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