Are you ready for the summer? I’m not sure I am and luckily it’s technically still a month away but Memorial Day Weekend is when everyone else says it starts so who am I to argue? Usually a national holiday means almost no major releases but here I am reviewing nine albums, including a few biggies: Stereolab‘s first album 15 years, most notably, plus new ones from The Go-Betweens‘ Robert Forster, Sparks, Sophia Kennedy, Marc Ribot, Lindstrøm, These New Puritans, Moontype, and Lou Tides (aka Teeny Lieberson of TEEN).

Over in Notable Releases, Andrew reviews the latest from Home is Where, Florry, MSPAINT, and more.

In other news, this week saw new album announcements from Suede, Paul Weller, and Four Tet & William Tyler. Saint Etienne also announced their final album (noooo!) but seem to be going out in style by throwing a guest-filled goodbye party with it.

That’s it for this week, have a great long holiday weekend!

Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metallic Film (Duophonic / Warp)
Stereolab’s first album in 15 years is not a Hologram—it’s a miracle

This year is seeing the return of a lot of classic groups from the ’90s. Stereolab lead the charge out of the gate with their first album in 15 years and sets a high standard for Pulp, Suede and others. Here’s a bit of my full review:

Instant Holograms On Metal Film does just about everything you want a Stereolab album to do, checking all the boxes: VU guitar chug, motorik drumming, bleepy-bloopy analog synths, vibraphone, horns, wondrously layered harmonies, lefty lyrics, “bah-dee-dah” choruses, and titles that seem like they were generated by a random phrase creator (but in this case were at least partially pulled from the October 1970 issue of Electronics Australia). It all makes for a warmly familiar record, welcoming you like family—record nerd family—at the airport…

This is the Stereolab you remember—at least the one that emerged around 1994’s Mars Audiac Quintet and made classics like Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Dots and Loops. Melody is at the forefront, all in the band’s signature style, with lots of room for instrumental zones to stretch out. For a group many still consider to be outré, Instant Holograms is kosmische comfort food—and that’s ok. They’re not breaking much new ground, but nobody else sounds like them—not imitators, and not even Gane or Sadier’s various post-Lab projects.

Read the whole review here and order Instant Holograms on Metal Film in the BV shop.

Instant Holograms On Metal Film by Stereolab

—

Robert Forster – Strawberries (Tapete)
The former Go-Between is clearly having a lot of fun rocking out and role-playing on his entertaining and satisfying ninth solo LP

“The last album was very personal,” notes Go-Betweens co-founder Robert Forster of 2023’s The Candle & The Flame, made while his wife Karin was battling cancer. (She’s doing fine, happy to report.) It was a heavy experience, and he didn’t write anything for over a year. When the songs started to come again, he found they were of a lighter mood. “A situation a little bit outside of myself, and I thought that was good. That was a place I could go to.” Outside himself, indeed. Strawberries consists of eight character sketches, all with Forster’s still keen eye for detail and ear for dialogue. The album was made in Stockholm with producer Peter Morén of Peter Bjorn and John, who also plays guitar throughout as part of an all-Swedish band that includes Jonas Thorell on bass and Magnus Olsson (The Last Days of April) on drums, with Lina Langendorf on woodwinds and Anna Åhman on keys. Forster’s songwriting style, indebted to Lou Reed, David Byrne and Bob Dylan, hasn’t changed much since The Go-Betweens and he remains at his literate best here, from romantic parlour dramas like instant classic “Tell it Back to Me” to literate tales of one night stands (“Breakfast on the Train”), and the he-said-she-said playfulness Strawberries‘ title track which is a duet with Karin. Speaking of family members, Forster’s son, Louis (formerly of The Goon Sax) plays on “Such a Shame” which about a rising rock star who has already been ground through the music biz mill. Then there’s closer “Diamonds” that starts like Buffalo Springfield and ends in free jazz chaos. With his heavy days currently behind him, Forster is clearly having fun this time and it’s contagious.

Strawberries by Robert Forster

—

Sparks – MAD! (Transgressive)
Fifty-four years into their career, Ron and Russell Mael continue to do things their own way and we wouldn’t want it any other way

“Saw the Pope, told him nope / Gonna do things my own way.” Ron and Russell Mael have been doing it their own way since the get-go, some 58 years ago when they formed The Urban Renewal Project while at UCLA, a group which morphed into Sparks in 1971. MAD! is their 26th album and has Ron and Russel, both in their late-70s, continuing down that singular path: baroque, orchestral glam pop, tongue firmly in cheek, funny but not novelty. When they sing about their love of Los Angeles’ 405 highway and how it rivals the Danube and the Seine, they mean it. “Winding through the golden hills and it will always give me chills / The Getty Center sitting pretty, what a giant thrill,” Russell sings against melodramatic synth strings. Most of the songs on MAD! are observational pieces about romance and relationships, from the sweet (“A Little Bit of Light Banter”) to the spurned (“Jansport Backpack”), to the obsessive (“My Devotion”). The album’s finest moment is “In Daylight,” an ode to beautiful woman who look good in the noonday sun, with an airy arrangement driven by percussive handclaps. It’s also a little obsessive, but in a droll and knowing way; and like most of what Sparks do, it’s something only they could’ve created.

MAD! by Sparks

—

Sophia Kennedy – Squeeze Me (City Slang)
Third album from this Hamburg-based art-pop singer is loaded with pleasing dichotomies 

As titles go, Squeeze Me is pretty great. It’s both affectionate and violent — “Are you embracing me or crushing me?” is how she puts it — and Sophia Kennedy’s album of the same name is also full of dichotomies, with production that straddles the line between digital and organic. It’s modern, but also sounds like an ’80s record, from a time when musicians were fascinated by new technology but still recorded on analog gear.

Then there’s Kennedy herself, born in Baltimore but raised in Germany from the age of five, and that duality can be heard in her powerful, charismatic vocals that give her records so much personality. All of this makes Squeeze Me, her third album, such a pleasure to listen to. Like her first two, Kennedy made it with partner in crime Mense Reents, and the album is overflowing with ideas: there are dancefloor bangers that put her in a class with Björk and Róisín Murphy (“Imaginary Friend,” “Runner”), melodramatic torch songs (“Upstairs Cabaret,” “Rosewood 21”), and whimsical diversions like the charming cod-reggae number “Drive the Lorry.” Kennedy also possesses a mean fastball, and on Squeeze Me she uses it on “Rodeo,” a rubber ball of a pop song that at times recalls a smoothed-out, elastic-funk version of The White Lotus theme, complete with a higher-pitched-than-usual vocal that might have you wondering if someone else is singing. “It looks into a future with a lot of question marks,” Sophia says of the song. “Rodeo doesn’t know where it’s headed, but I’m pretty sure it knows where it took off.” Wherever that is, hopefully she visits again.

Squeeze Me by Sophia Kennedy

—

Moontype – I Let The Wind Push Down On Me (Orindal)
Album #2 from this winsome Chicago group broadens their scope, adds a guitarist and keyboards without changing what made their debut so good

It’s been four years since Chicago’s Moontype released their wonderful debut album and in that time they’ve expanded from a trio to a quartet, with singer-bassist  and drummer Emerson Hunton saying goodbye to original guitarist Ben Cruz and adding two others in Joe Suihkonen (from related group, Deals) and Andrew Clinkman, of Spirits Having Fun, in 2022. McCarthy also became a more confident songwriter, allowing Suihkonen and Clinkman freedom to explore in their arrangements. I Let The Wind Push Down On Me, which is their first for Owen Ashworth’s Orindal Records, was produced by Katie Von Schleicher and Nate Mendelsohn and expands on the lightly mathy indie rock sound cemented on Bodies of Water. Most notably, synthesizers have entered the scene which makes everything a little dreamier. There are still lots of guitar filigrees and considered time changes, and the songwriting remains top notch and McCarthy’s voice remains at the heavenly center. The album title may be a mouthful but the songs go down even smoother this time.

I Let The Wind Push Down On Me by Moontype

—

Marc Ribot – Map of a Blue City (New West)
The acclaimed guitarist shows a new side on his first-ever vocal solo album

Marc Ribot is known primarily as a guitarist, with a unique style that mixes serious jazz and classical chops with avant skronk, heard on records by everyone from Tom Waits and John Zorn to Diana Krall and Robert Plant. He has sung on albums before—most notably with his noisy rock trio Ceramic Dog—but Map of a Blue City is new territory for him: a solo vocal album, mainly just him and his guitar. (Just don’t call it “singer-songwriter.”) Long in the works, the album began with sessions produced by the late Hal Willner and was finished with Uniform’s Ben Greenberg. It’s a lovely, intimate record, with Marc’s voice close—right next to your ear—but paired with Greenberg’s expert sound design, as if it’s just you and him in an echoing concert hall. His half-spoken vocal style works well with these songs that, in his usual fashion, aim for feeling over flashy perfection. There’s no denying his fretwork, though, on songs like “Celia,” or the album’s electric lullaby of a title track. Map of a Blue City also highlights Ribot’s skill as a master interpreter, whether he’s turning Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Death of a Narcissist” into a slide guitar lament or delivering a moving take on “When the World’s on Fire,” a traditional song recorded by the Carter Family in the ’30s that, thematically, feels like it could’ve been written this morning. “When the world’s on fire, where will you run?” The album ends with the atmospheric instrumental “Optimism of the Spirit,” which unexpectedly morphs into glitchy electronics. Hopefully this won’t be Ribot’s only record like this—but in a career that spans nearly 50 years, he prefers to keep listeners on their toes.

Map of a Blue City by Marc Ribot

—

Lindstrøm – Sirius Syntoms (Feedelity)
The first album for Lindstrøm’s relaunched Feedelity Records is his most fun in ages

The Norwegian king of space disco, Hans-Peter Lindstrøm has created a distinctive style in the world of lush club music, where ARPs and other analog synths flutter weightless in the breeze while bass lines skip like stones across the water. You can hear it in his own work, as well as collaborations with Todd Terje and Prinz Thomas. His creations feel especially joyous and free on Sirius Syntoms which is the first release for his relaunched Feedelity Records which was his home for much of the 2000s. “I wanted to create something that feels freeing,” Lindstrøm says. “Music that lifts you up but also has depth—something that resonates emotionally and physically.” You get that with “Cirki,” the album’s opening track and one of Lindstrøm’s best singles in some time. It’s the high point, but Sirius Syntoms stays effervescent and engaging throughout, with the playful “Moo)n” and boogie fever dream “These Are A Few Of My Favorite Strings” being particular highlights. A delight.

Sirius Syntoms by Lindstrøm

These New Puritans – Crooked Wing (Domino)
Jack and George Barnett’s first These New Puritans album in six years is the furthest out they’ve traveled yet

Of all the UK bands that came up through the post-punk revival of the mid-’00s, These New Puritans have taken the most unlikely path. Led by twin brothers Jack and George Barnett, the group were already on the arty end of the angular dance-rock spectrum with their 2008 debut, and went further into the unknown—industrial goth and modern composition—for 2010’s Hidden. By the time of 2013’s Fields of Reeds, they had abandoned almost all rock elements in favor of a dark, lavish near-classical style. 2019’s Inside the Rose brought them back to more traditional song structures and percussion, but on TNP’s first album since then, they’ve gone further out than ever before. Crooked Wing is ornate, polished, and beautiful—a mass of musical obsidian. It’s not pop, it’s not rock, but it’s in the same universe, especially on “Industrial Love Song,” an otherworldly duet between Jack and Caroline Polachek, and “Wild Reeds,” which takes some breathy inspiration from Darth Vader. Most of the album is all nighttime beauty, where pianos and organ swirl around double bass, vibraphone, and horns in the ceiling-less sonic headspace they’ve created. In that way, it’s a little like the final two Talk Talk albums—but goth. If that sounds appealing, you may have found your Eden of the night.

Crooked Wing by These New Puritans

—

Lou Tides – Autostatic! (Switch Hit)
Former TEEN leader and current Sharon Van Etten bandmate tells arty ghost stories on her solo debut that was co-produced by Bartees Strange

Kristina Lieberson is a veteran of the Brooklyn scene, having played in Here We Go Magic in the ’00s, led TEEN with her sisters Lizzie and Katherine in the 2010s, and also spent time as a touring member of Sleater-Kinney. (She was also in a late-’00s band apparently only I liked, Amazing Baby.) She’s currently guitarist/keyboardist with Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory but also makes her own idiosyncratic pop as Lou Tides and just released her debut album under that name. Autostatic! was co-produced by Leiberson and Bartees Strange and is pretty different from anything else she’s done: sleek, highly processed, and gothy rock/pop with a distinct flair for the theatrical, right down to the alien cover art. “I think of these songs as ghosts and New York being their haunting ground,” Teeny says. “This city is full of them.” Some of them (“Map Maker,” the title track) are fun and danceable, while others are downright scary. “This record explores how the past informs the future, and the ability to change, confront, and blossom,” and with that it will be interesting to see where she goes next.

Autostatic! by Lou Tides

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

And check out what’s new in our shop.

—

Beyond “Blue Monday”: New Order’s Best Deep Cuts

“Dreams Never End” (1981)

New Order were still underneath the shadow of Joy Division in 1981, a hard shackle to shake. Unsure how to progress after the death of Ian Curtis, both guitarist Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook sing lead on New Order's debut album, Movement, and both sound like they're trying to mimic him. "Dreams Never End," which features Hook on vocals, is musically bright and sunny, with Hook, Sumner and Gilbert's instruments swirling around Stephen Morris' insistent, danceable beat. The Cure would crib liberally from this for their 1986 single "Inbetween Days."

“Procession” (1981)

Following their debut single, "Ceremony" (which had been played live with Joy Division), their next release was "Procession" which felt like a natural progression from Joy Division's Closer, with glacial synths washing over a frantic rhythm section and Bernard Sumner's brittle guitars. Recorded and released before Movement, "Procession" nonetheless feels past it, with Bernard Sumner coming into his own as lead vocalist. While a single, "Procession" didn't make it on to the main tracklist for 1987's Substance, but was instead relegated to the bonus disc of the CD. But it's a pivotal song in their evolution.

“Turn the Heater On” (1982 John Peel Session)

Keith Hudson's "Turn the Heater On" was Ian Curtis' favorite reggae song, says Peter Hook in his Substance memoir, saying it was where Bernard Sumner "got the got the idea for using the melodica," an instrument which would turn up in New Order songs like "Your Silent Face" and "Love Vigilantes." Barney's only playing guitar at the end, after he's stopped singing," adds Hook, only kinda joking that "That became the whole template for the band."

“The Village” (1983)

Power, Corruption & Lies is a perfect record, and none of the songs were released as singles -- "Blue Monday" was tacked onto the U.S. CD release -- so every song could theoretically fit on this list. There are moments of sadness and desolation, but there are also songs of unabashed joy. In much the same spirit as "Age of Consent," "The Village" bounces along like the first day of spring with Sumner singing "Our love is like the flowers / The rain, the sea and the hours." The mid-section instrumental -- with guitars, synthesizers and drum machines joining forces -- remains one of New Order's most magical moments.

"The synths are incredible from 1:45 so in your face but not overpowering ... then they disappear - my whole taste in music seemed to change because of this song" - The Charlatan's Tim Burgess on "The Village"

“Leave Me Alone” (1983)

Many of New Order's most genius moments come from the interplay between Peter Hook's bass -- which is almost always played high up on the neck to where some mistake it for guitar -- and Bernard Sumner's guitar. Is there a more perfect example than on Power Corruption & Lies' closing track? The bass hook opens the song, but it's when the chiming guitar lead enters that "Leave Me Alone" truly blooms. (Gillian Gilbert adds further, crucial, counterpoint guitar lines.) A grey-hued portrait of loneliness ("On a thousand islands in the sea / I see a thousand people just like me"), it's one of New Order's crowning achievements, fading out with two more minutes of gorgeous instrumental melancholia.

“Thieves Like Us” (1984)

This is the big concession to the "no singles" rule on this list. While "Thieves Like Us" went to #18 in the UK in 1984, it does not have the stature of "Bizarre Love Triangle," "Temptation," "Blue Monday," "Sub-Culture," "True Faith" or even LP tracks like "Age of Consent" or "Love Vigilantes." But it is one of New Order's best, most deeply emotive songs -- it's Peter Hook's favorite (you can see his full Top 10 below) -- that needs all six minutes and 36 seconds to work its magic. Bernard Sumner's vocals doesn't even come in till two-and-a-half minutes into the song, long after we've been seduced by the song's NYC hip-hop inspired rhythm section and majestic washes of synths. While the song works well as an instrumental -- it plays over the "making the dress" montage in Pretty in Pink -- Sumner gives a great delivery with a whole lot of "Loves," in his signature, fragile style.

PETER HOOK: THE TEN BEST NEW ORDER SONGS from his memoir "Substance: Inside New Order" 1. "Thieves Like Us"
2. "Leave Me Alone"
3. "Homage" (unreleased)
4. "Too Late" (John Peel session)
5. "Someone Like You"
6. "Ruined in a Day" (K-KLass Remix)
7. "Every Little Counts"
8. "Age of Consent"
9. "Temptation"
10. "Eligia"

“Lonesome Tonight” (1984)

"Lonesome Tonight" is, according to Peter Hook, New Order's ode to Elvis Presley. Bernard Sumner was apparently obsessed with a version of "Lonesome Tonight" (where The King can't stop laughing) and suggested to the rest of New Order they try jamming it on stage one night. That bit of C-F chord improvisation became this song, which Hook calls "a glorious tune even though it's nothing like Elvis', given away in true fashion as a b-side." (It's the flip to "Thieves Like Us.") New Order rarely needed more than two chords to create something amazing (see all of Power, Corruption and Lies), and when the synthesizers crest halfway through, it evokes Joy Division's "Atmosphere." If you're wondering, that is Peter Hook clearing his sinuses at the four-minute mark. "When Barney heard me hocking up phlegm into a handkerchief he suggested we put it on at the end because the contrast between something so beautiful and something so awful might be interesting. He was absolutely right."

“Murder” (1984)

New Order have always had a way with instrumentals and this one's a real tour-de-force, a pounding goth nightmare powered by Stephen Morris' propulsive drumming, a sinister bass line from Hook and Sumner's three-note, cyclical guitar hook. The song also makes great, creepy use of movie samples of Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Malcolm McDowell in infamous big-budget softcore film Caligula. "Murder," which has been covered by The Charlatans and K-X-P, was originally only released as a single in Belgium, but later appeared on the second disc of the Substance two-CD set.

“Elegia” (full version) (1985)

An ode to Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores, specifically the pocket watch scene from A Few Dollars More, "Elegia" opens side two of 1985's highly underrated Low-Life. While the five-minute instrumental is carefully paced, exploding into full Sergio Leone glory in the last minute, the original 17-minute version is even better. "Dylan Jones - then editor at id magazine --asked us if we’d like to do some music for a short 15-20 min art film," Stephen Morris says. "We went into a studio in Wembley and did a marathon all night session. The film never happened, but we liked 'Elegia' so much it got edited down to fit on the LP." As Morris says, "Hooky's bass melodies on 'Elegia' are majestic."

"Elegia" is one of three New Order tracks to appear in Pretty in Pink ("Thieves Like Us" and "Shellshock," which appears on the soundtrack album, are the others), and you may have also heard it in Stranger Things, and the trailer for video game "Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain."

“Sooner Than You Think” (1985)

Like Power, Corruption and Lies, Low-Life is a near-perfect album and picking from the many great songs is difficult. Following "Blue Monday" and "Thieves Like Us," New Order really came into their own as far as blending rock and club music. While the albums that follow would more often than not have songs that were either "rock" or "synth," Low-Life let things intermingle in wonderful and surprising ways. After a building, minute-long intro that is mostly guitar, bass and drums, "Sooner Than You Think" shifts gears and lets the keyboards take over. "A very unusual tune, showing exactly why I used to love New Order," says Peter Hook in his memoir. "We were so versatile." As the lyrics describe, the song was actually written after "a party in [New Order's] hotel" in Zurich in 1984. "I think some members of the Furious Five were there, no Grandmaster Flash," recalls Stephen Morris. "There was a very loud blaster in a very small room - other hotel guests were not amused - complaints were made, maybe I dreamt the Furious Five bit? But not the Swiss police though."

“Face Up” (1985)

This one should've been a single. "When we first wrote Face up in early 1984 we thought it was the best thing ever," says Stephen Morris. "Face Up" is another New Order song where two disparate parts have been grafted together, with an an atmospheric intro ("inspired by Caligula" says Hook) that then drastically shifts gears into music that all but demands you bounce up and down. Sonically, "Face Up" is pure ebullience, the kind few besides New Order can do with guitars, but the lyrics -- "Oh how I cannot bear the thought of you" -- are a decided kiss-off from a spurned lover. "I couldn’t understand why some people didn’t get Face Up’s euphoria, but maybe you had to be playing the drums to fully get that," adds Morris.

“Way of Life” (1986)

As the '80s progressed, New Order became more and more known as a synthpop band, but they remained a clever, inventive rock band on album tracks, as is evidenced by the entire first side of 1986's Brotherhood. "Way of Life" closes out Side A, beginning with another gloomy fake-out intro before blossoming into a wonderful pop song with a chorus so infectious it seems impossible they would bury it this deep into the album. Hook says "We were trying to emulate 'Age of Consent' so I just played the riff backwards, and voilà."

“Every Little Counts” (1986)

New Order were guilty a few times over the years of what Peter Hook calls "five o'clock in the morning lyrics." Sometimes that meant something special, like "you caught me at a bad time, so why don't you piss off" (Power, Corruption & Lies' "Your Silent Face") and sometimes it gives you the opening lines to Brotherhood's closing track. "Every second counts when I am with you / I think you are a pig, you should be in a zoo," which Bernard Sumner cannot get through without laughing. (He also didn't feel a need to do another take.) And yet, "Every Second Counts" is still pure gold, making great use of orchestral samples, harmony and Sumner's winning "do de do de dooh" chorus. "Every Little Counts" is also a perfect album-closer, with a massive, woozy swell from their Emulator sampling keyboard -- "with Barney holding all the keys down at once, using both arms" -- and then a great final joke that definitely freaked out some vinyl listeners at the time.

“1963” (1987)

Like "The Perfect Kiss," this b-side to 1987 single "True Faith" is a story-song about a doomed relationship -- and perhaps firearms -- set to ultra-catchy crystalline synthpop. There's a case to be made that it's better than the A-side (which was one of New Order's biggest hits and their first entry into the Billboard Top 40). For people like Peter Hook who wished more of Peter Hook's distinctive bass stylings made it into the the final product (it doesn't show up till right before the slow fade out), Arthur Baker's sublime remix adds in more string instruments -- bass and guitar -- throughout.

“Vanishing Point” (1989)

Both Stephen Morris and Peter Hook's favorite song on 1989's Technique, "Vanishing Point" is one of New Order's finest electronic dance songs (and it really should've been a single instead of either "Fine Time" or "Run"). Like "Thieves Like Us," this one is in no hurry to get to vocals, with the 90 second lead-in playing like an overture, leading us through the major melodic points; when Sumner does begin with "Grow up children don't you suffer / at the hands of one another" it's a cinematic experience. "Vanishing Point" has the best chorus on the album and the best breakdown and "drop" (before they called them that), that was clearly influenced by the two months spent in Ibiza making the album (and spending a lot of time at the club).

“Dream Attack” (1989)

individual lanes, but the album closes with the glorious "Dream Attack" that brings the whole record together, mixing ragged guitar solos, windswept acoustic guitars, sampled orchestra hits, sequencers and live drums -- plus another great chorus -- all together as only New Order can do. Bernard Sumner apparently had The Eagles' "Hotel California" in mind with the song's two-minute jam outro which, in their hands, works. Gillian Gilbert, who played those wonderful acoustic guitars, says, "To me, Dream Attack' sums up the whole album. It’s bright breezy and uplifting...a good song to walk off into the sunset to."

“Special” (1993)

New Order were not especially getting along in the early-'90s, but got back together to make a new album, as they were low on funds after their label Factory Records (which went belly-up the year prior) and their troubled Manchester club, The Hacienda, depleted their bank accounts. Republic was, by all accounts, not the most pleasant recording experience with Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook butting heads constantly. There's not much of Hook's signature bass on the album, but there is some unfortunate rapping by Sumner. Republic does contain "Regret," one of their best-ever singles (a Top 40 hit in the US), and some of the old magic can also be found tucked away near the end of Side 2 with the sultry, moody "Special," which is driven by Hook's bass and another great chorus. Lyrically the song is perhaps referencing the demise of Factory Records or the group itself: "It was always special, like water down the drain." New Order went on an eight-year hiatus not long after its release.