2010s Albums That Made Me - The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise

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[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

This is the album that turned me into a fan of The Dear Hunter and it along with Act 2 rank as some of my favorite albums of all time.

[@MattOLearyMusic]

Nice. Had to be fun to go back and find all the goodies.

[@Brunex92]

This is by far my favorite album. When it was released, I was already a big fan of The Dear Hunter, but this one... The feeling and chills I had when I first listened to A Night On The Town, it was unique. It's remarkable how much the band has matured musically and lyrically, the leap in quality between Act III and its sequels is incredible. And they keep surprising me, I love Antimai and I'm extremely excited for the band's next steps. About Casey, during the pandemic he released a solo EP under the name Honorary Astronaut, another impeccable work.

[@MattOLearyMusic]

Love that Honorary Astronaut EP. Yes, yes, and yes. More great work to come.

[@khan1014]

I saw the thumbnail for this video pop up on my feed and got excited. Didn't get into this band until college, but have loved them ever since. I've seen them twice: first with The Family Crest (highly recommend if you've never checked them out, indie orchestral at its finest) and the second time with Leprous and BTBAM. Having the range to tour with both groups of bands shows how much diversity in sound Dear Hunter has. As much as I love Act 4 and the amount of times I've sung each melody and harmony line of "At The End Of The Earth" (future a capella arrangement for sure), Act V got me out of a literal musical funk. I love how it's intended to be the mirror image of Act IV and songs like The March and Cascade are so powerful. Even if Act VI never comes out, Act V was such a strong way to end that story. That alone made it my favorite album of that year, beating out Haken's "Affinity" by a hair. Thank you for gushing about this album. Don't see a lot of people talking about this band, but it's always a pleasure when someone does. Keep up the good work! P.S. not to spoil my Top Albums of 2022 videos that will hopefully drop soon (yes it's April, but work and life have gotten in the way lol) but Antimai is going to make it pretty high on my list ...

[@MattOLearyMusic]

Looking forward to seeing your list! Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I've heard whispers of the Family Crest. I heard the last album, but I'll have to dig further. Act V is 10/10. I can't really separate IV & V besides the subjective experience of Act IV as my TDH awakening. The mirror image thing is so cool. What an amazing feat to put these two out one year apart. Casey said that because Act VI is more a summary/overview of the whole story & character arc, it would be weird to do it as a rock album. It would end up referencing the rest of the Acts music so heavily that it would sound like a weird reprise or self-parody. He wants to do a film, but it's expensive. He'll definitely do something, just to wrap up the story.

[@hydrostatic3000]

Act 4 is a modern classic. Pleasant surprise to see you covering it!

[@Swollen_Goat]

I got into this band when Act 3 released, and was IMMEDIATELY hooked. I have listened to Act 2 probably close to 1000 times at this point and it has become my favorite album of all time. Act 4 is equal to Act 3 and 5, but nothing beast 2 IMO. All of the ACTs are just phenomenal though and not many albums beat them for me.

[@fuddlez8243]

act 2 is absolutely the best or at the very least, my favorite as well

[@fabiodias5527]

I became a TDH fan back with Act 3 arund 2010 but I absolutely love Act 4 too. Been a fan of these guys and following them since then

[@MattOLearyMusic]

Love it. The new album Sunya should be coming out later this year or early next 🤞

[@fabiodias5527]

@@MattOLearyMusic Yeah, definitely excited about it. Loved Antimai and was fortunate enough to drive to see them in Buffalo. It was a great show! I'm still waiting for my Antimai Vinyl bundle to arrivel... bought it back in JULY or something and still nothing. Crazy.

[@MattOLearyMusic]

@@fabiodias5527 Yikes. Awesome. Yeah... Casey confirmed that he wants to wait to release the album until he has vinyl in hand this time. I was lucky to get mine.

[@savingpyro]

I'd also like to add that it feels like pairs of tracks act as a call and response. Like you it feels incomplete to listen to one track and not the next. Pairs like At the End of the World and Remembered, Is There Anybody There and The Squeaky Wheel, The Line and Wait, and of course the Bitter Suites.

[@jonathantozer7733]

I got into Dear Hunter through Coheed as they released Migrant. Migrant is very decent, I then went back and heard Act II which blew my mind. It reminded me of the Frames album by British prog rack band Oceansize, so hooked me straight in. Prog rockers should check out Oceansize if you're into Act II!

[@MattOLearyMusic]

I’ve had Oceansize on a to-do playlist for too long. The time has come…

[@jonathantozer7733]

Dive in at Frames. It would be on my albums that made me. RIP to them. But life changing.

[@AllMediaReviewsPodcast]

I very much echo your statement about Frames and Act II actually, released just months apart in fact in 2007.

[@jonathantozer7733]

2007 was good to us. We had Frames, Act II, Good Apollo Vol 2 and I'll always remember that year "In Nothing We Trust" by Reuben came out, cementing their legacy as alt rock post hardcore genius legends. We also got On Letting Go by Circa and Manipulator by Fall of Troy. Man. 2007, chefs kiss.

[@AllMediaReviewsPodcast]

@@jonathantozer7733 yeah, it was 1 of my favorite years. Also Kaddisfly, Between the Buried and Me, Fair to Midland, 3, House of Fools, Kiss Kiss, The Receiving End of Sirens and Silverchair among others.

[@ninaoleary6880]

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

[@AllMediaReviewsPodcast]

It's a classic, and has many of their best tunes. But I'm a lifer fanboy, so I'm just preaching to the choir. And like you, I don't pay all that much attention to the story. I mean I do a bit, but normally not to the point it impacts my enjoyment of the music. I will say, I find where Casey jumped up in production was maybe on The Color Spectrum, but you're correct about there being a big difference on Migrant from the 1st 3 Acts albums.

[@MattOLearyMusic]

Fair, The Color Spectrum is pretty clean.