Album of the Week: Emotional Eternal

Whenever I pitch the idea of Record Club to potential members, one of the questions that always comes up is, "Do you pick all the albums?" Hell no! 29 different members have chosen an album so far in 2022. We try to be as fair and as equitable as possible with the rotation. That fairness even sometimes extends outward, to people who aren't even members of Record Club.

Remember Foals? The only RC artist who had two of their albums chosen for Record Club, only because they managed to slip by before the "no repeats" rule was created? (Or maybe the rule was created because of Foals? I forget.) Well, they are back this week. During an AMA session this past summer, I asked the band to choose an album for our Record Club. Here is what they came up with. Enjoy.

Check out the archives to read reviews for two Foals albums plus 193 other albums, keep up with our 2022 goals because time is ticking, and then read about the album for this week below.

WEEK 196 — October 30-November 5, 2022

What we're listening to this week (Foals' pick):

ALBUM: Emotional Eternal

ARTIST: Melody's Echo Chamber

RELEASED: April 29, 2022

LOCATION: Aix-en-Provence, France

WHAT GENRE IS THIS: Dream pop, neo-psychedelia

WHY FOALS PICKED IT: Mostly because I asked them to. But it's slightly more complicated than that. All three members of Foals were AMAing, and all three gave different answers to my question. There's was Emotional Eternal, as suggested by rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist Jimmy Smith. Frontman Yannis Philippakis said Hideous by Oliver Sims (which wasn't even out yet when he gave this answer, but it's since been released). Finally, drummer Jack Bevan suggest "the new parquet courts" (Sympathy for Life). I just went with the one that currently has the highest number of upvotes. So I guess in a way, Foals and r/indieheads both had a hand in choosing this week's album.

TRACKLIST:

1. Emotional Eternal
2. Looking Backward
3. Pyramid in the Clouds
4. The Hypnotist
5. Personal Message
6. Where the Water Clears the Illusion
7. A Slow Dawning of Peace
8. Alma_The Voyage

LENGTH: 31:34

WHERE TO LISTEN FOR FREE: Bandcamp

READING SOME SHIT: This interview with Under the Radar gives you a pretty good sense of who Melody's Echo Chamber, a.k.a. Melody Prochet, truly is—dream pop provocateur, new mother, enigmatic Frenchwoman.

RECORD CLUB ALBUM ON THE DAY THAT THIS ALBUM WAS RELEASED: Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy (with reviews from Joe, Sam, Pam, Stephan, Dwyer, Melissa, Nate, Sunny, and Lamson... still waiting on Dranders...)

PREVIOUSLY ON RECORD CLUB: This album was released in April, but just one month ago today, Melody's Echo Chamber released a "previously lost" album called Unfold. This was originally slated for release in 2012ish, but was scrapped in part due to Prochet breaking up with her then-boyfriend and the album's producer, Kevin Parker, who fronts the RC alumni band Tame Impala.

On a completely different note, it's been a while since we've had an actual RC artist choose an album for us. Usually indie rock artists ignore me on Reddit. The only other person to dive down deep enough in the AMA to see my question was the bassist from Real Estate, who chose the William DeVaughn album. Maybe DeVaughn or Prochet will eventually do their own AMAs, and we can continue the chain. 

Happy listening, fam! Have a great week!