IX (...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead album)

Studio album by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

Released

10 November 2014

Recorded

Sonic Ranch

Genre

Post-hardcore, alternative rock

Length

47:37 (standard edition)
73:07 (deluxe edition)

Label

Richter Scale
Superball Music

Producer

Chris "Frenchie" Smith

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead chronology

Lost Songs
(2012)

IX
(2014)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Clash	7/10
Consequence of Sound	B-
DIY
Exclaim!	7/10
NME	8/10
Pitchfork Media	7.2/10
Popmatters	7/10
The Skinny
Sputnikmusic	3/5

IX is the ninth studio album by Austin, Texas alternative rock outfit ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, released October 20, 2014 on Superball Music.

Jason Reece explained in an interview that the band was going for a record consisting of many instrumental tracks. Several instrumentals were written, but ended up writing songs that "had a more personal lyrical bent", departing from the last album's very aggressive and political lyrics. As for the sound, it was inspired by Slave Ambient and Lost in the Dream, both records by The War on Drugs: "This layered Krautrock kind of vibe. We were thinking of Echo And The Bunnymen, Ocean Rain. These dense and bigger sounding albums. We were kind of into some 80’s music, Psychedelic Furs. Which is funny cause we’re not really a band that’s into the new wave sound, I don’t think we’ve ever made an 80’s sounding record. That’s kind of what we were jamming out to, the early 80’s sounds. Going for more of a Peter Gabriel thing, where you don’t use any cymbals, heavy toms and stuff like that were sort of the things we were kind of touching upon."

Reviews for IX were mostly positive upon release, with an Metacritic average of 75/100, indicating generally favourable reviews.

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Wikipedia