The Hypnogogue

This album of The Church came to me as a surprise in 2023 as I only really knew Starfish from 1988. It does not add as much to their discography as confirm the sound and songwriting skills of a more matured band.

Under the Milky Way was the sum of my knowledge about The Church up to now - surprised to find they'd been at it this whole time, and apparently outting out material at a quite high and fully realized level. This is right up my alley.

2023 album from an Autralian act I have never heard of before, whose roots go back to the original post-punk / new wave explosion -- before they infused psychedelic jangle rock, dream pop and even post-rock tones into their sound -- now delivering a long, ambitious record filled with moody compositions, pulled off fifty frigging years into their career? Sign me in. Australia is too far from the rest of the world and that's damn unfair. How many other pivotal Aussie bands like that have I missed over the years? Browsing through their discography, from their Echo And The Bunnymen-adjacent heyday in the late eighties to this particular album harboring so many lush tones and imaginative moments, it's obvious The Church have a knack for sophisticated chord sequences, evocative soundscapes and killer melodies. In *The Hypnagogue*, the execution of those intents make them sometimes sound like the lovechild of mid-career Swans and David Bowie (for sure, a very distinct influence on "C'est La Vie"), with various flourishes adjacent to more recent atmospheric rock bands like Preoccupations. In a nutshell, those veterans sound as fresh as the youngest acts in the genres they are tackling these days. And yet it looks like they've also slowly acquired extra gravitas over the years, which makes their latest output as terrific as what they released at the start of their long career. The best of both worlds, really -- old and young ones. So many songs shine in this sci-fi concept album (still not following its narrative as of now, but I'll crack that nut later on for sure). Opener "Ascendence", "C'est La Vie", slow and cinematic "Flickering Lights", the epic title-track, "Antarctica", closer "Second Bridge"... They're all extraordinary songs, and it's almost as if the rejuvenated line-up in the band were an up-and-coming act in my ears. A couple of slow cuts ("Aerodrome" and "These Coming Days") might feel somewhat extraneous in the second half, but it's only because the tracklist is long. Taken on their own, those songs are perfectly fine, so what we have here is just icing on the cake. *The Hypnagogue* indeed takes its sweet time to explore many dark tones and ominous moods, but as it does so, it always feels vital, sharp and relevant. Actually, I can't write a proper review about this LP as of now, because I'm just astounded by what I'm hearing here, right by the end of this great record. So a thousand thanks to the anonymous user who suggested it. Buying the deluxe edition of *The Hypnogogue* right now (also containing songs from its later companion LP *Eros Zeta And The Perfumed Guitars*). This album ticks all my boxes for that sort of trippy rock, and you can't imagine how excited I am to discover it today. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes: 5 + 4.5 Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 45 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 56 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 107 --- Émile: voir ma toute dernière réponse sous le disque *Triage* au-dessus

This album instantly connected with me, at first evoking an 80s vibe and then maybe MGMT or something else psychedelic and modern? The title track The Hypnogogue was mesmerizing! What a terrific way to drift along…

Wow, this was really good. I need to listen to more of the Church's music. 4 stars.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: I think i knew, Albert Ross

First time listening to church really enjoyed this. Solid choice, and added to my frequent rotation.

If you say The Church I think of the Lost Boys soundtrack, so seeing this is a new album took me by surprise. I'm equally surprised by how good it is. These guys still got it!

Still kicking all these years later

After listening to this the first time, I realised I had absolutely no memory of what it was, other than that is was nothing like "Under the Milky Way". Listening again the following day, I realise that The Church have, over a 45 year career, changed their music quite a lot. Unfortunately for me, the direction they moved in appears to be a bit shoegazey - a genre that I find very difficult to enjoy. That being said, I didn't object to this half as much as I objected to the follow-up stuff like The Jesus and Mary Chain shoegaze that Tidal algorithmed to when this album finished, so I guess we need to give them some credit for being a lot less objectionable than the genre they chose. I think I'd have picked an earlier album - but I definitely agree with The Church being notable enough for inclusion.

“The Aussie rockers go prog on their 26th studio album” is the album description equivalent of the Grandpa Simpson walking in and immediately straight out of the restaurant meme

Sounds so much like ~500 albums on the original list that I'm surprised this isn't on the official rankings! Fun as a curio, being that it sounds like 1983 but came out in 2023. One of the vocalists sounds a lot like David Bowie in a way I enjoy.

So this is what new wave bands sound like in 2023. I'm guessing they had a period where they abandoned their original sound (the 90s) but came back to it. This wasn't bad, but it was kinda boring. 3/5.

Some weird middle ground between Pink Floyd and Sisters of Mercy Didn't always get my film attention, but it was okay

I liked the "Pink Floyd" quality of the album. Might listen again

I wouldn’t have guessed this was The Church’s 26th album. Kind of makes you wonder if they love it or are just fiscally irresponsible. Either way this album felt like an amalgamation of several modern indie bands including arctic monkeys real estate and the national. For a band that’s been around this long you’d think they’d have their own sound carved out. It was okay but didn’t love it. 5.9/10

This bandname did ring a bell and, unless there's two Australian bands active in the 80s and 90s going by "The Church", I have heard a record by them previously. I'm curious as to why one would choose such a recent release compared to their "classic" material, but then I'm not really familiar with the band! This album was quite alright, more textural than what I recall of their older work.

Rock psicodélico. A veces parece que imita a Bowie. Ni fu ni fa.

Took me a while to realize that this is, in fact, THE Church, and not some other band with the same name. I'm only familiar with their 80s work so it was a surprise to learn that not only do they still make music to this day, but also that it's still surprisingly solid. Doesn't sound like an album released in 2023 at all, for better or for worse. Bit of late 70s Pink Floyd in there. Strong 3/5.

Not gonna lie, this is beginning to feel like 1001 Prog Albums to Hear Before You Die. That said, I didn’t dislike this record. Solid instrumentation and good songwriting, even if it feels a little one-note tonally. Reminded me a little of the music The Dream Syndicate has put out in recent years following their reformation.

These guys have been around for nearly 50 years which is impressive, and the 80s origins certainly show in the bright flashes of Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure, and New Order-esque motifs throughout the LP. There’s not enough of these highlights, however, to sustain an hour-long LP. Somewhere around track 4 or 5 there’s a downshift into this vague ambient feel that the album never really recovers from – what starts off strong with lots of individuality just kind of fades into so-so 80s new-wave. A full LP of the early guitar-driven tracks with some uptempo pep would’ve easily been a 4, just not sure why this one falls off so hard in the middle.

They so desperately want to be Bowie

Pretty uneventful 2