Open Your Heart (album)

Open Your Heart is the third studio album by the Brooklyn punk rock band The Men, released March 6, 2012 on Sacred Bones Records. The album saw a change in sound for The Men, being less aggressive than the band's previous album Leave Home and incorporating influences from classic rock, country music and surf rock. The album received mostly positive reviews.

Open Your Heart
Studio album by
The Men
Released6 March 2012 (2012-03-06)
RecordedSummer 2011[1]
GenreIndie rock, post-punk, shoegaze
Length45:06
LabelSacred Bones
The Men chronology
Leave Home
(2011)		 Open Your Heart
(2012)		 New Moon
(2013)

Recording and release

Open Your Heart was recorded in the summer of 2011 at Python Patrol studio.[1] Open Your Heart was almost finished when Leave Home, The Men's second album, was released.[2] The album cover came from a stag magazine, with the vulgar elements in the background blacked-out.[3]

The album was first announced on December 14, 2011.[4] The first song released from the album, "Open Your Heart," premiered online on January 24, 2012.[5] A second song from Open Your Heart, "Ex-Dreams," was released February 17, 2012.[6]

Musical styles

Open Your Heart has been described as more "toned down" and psychedelic than Leave Home.[3][7] The album incorporated country music, doo-wop, krautrock and surf rock elements into the music.[5][7][8] For specific bands, writers have cited Foo Fighters, MC5, The Replacements, Spacemen 3, Sonic Youth, No Age, Yo La Tengo, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as artists of comparison.[8][9][10][11] In an interview, the band said they were listening heavily to John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Cheap Trick, Big Star, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan's Street Legal while recording the album.[3] Vocalist Mark Perro attributed Open Your Heart's new sound to the band having more time to write and record.[7]

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.1/10[12]
Metacritic83/100[13]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
The A.V. ClubA[14]
The Guardian[15]
The Irish Times[16]
Mojo[17]
NME8/10[18]
Pitchfork8.5/10[10]
Rolling Stone[19]
Spin9/10[20]
Uncut8/10[21]

Open Your Heart has received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic, the album has a score of 83 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim."[13] Jason Heller of The A.V. Club wrote that "With Open Your Heart, The Men have taken that breath. And it’s only made their hearts beat faster."[14] Pitchfork's Ian Cohen gave the album a "Best New Music" designation, writing "Open Your Heart is smartly sequenced to metabolize genre and morph like a masterful DJ mix, subtly rationing out its true peaks even while seemingly going full-throttle throughout." Cohen concluded: "[I]f you bought their t-shirt, came to their show, raved about Leave Home on your Tumblr, or seek to carry on tradition by starting your own band, Open Your Heart is the Men thanking you in the best way possible."[10] In another positive review, Rob Harvilla of Spin wrote "Open Your Heart improves the band's focus even as it widens its range, ditching the harrowing, hacking-death-cough stuff and reaching for something more… let's say 'pastoral.'"[20]

Emma Sundstrom of PopMatters was more mixed towards the album, calling the track "Candy" "annoying" and the album's longer songs "hit and miss." Sundstrom concluded: "At the end of the day, the Men aren’t quite all they’re cracked up to be, but even a bitter cynic like me has to admit, this album is worth a listen. It’s too watered down to stand the test of time, but right now, it hits the spot."[11]

Pitchfork ranked Open Your Heart at number 30 on its list of the best album of 2012, with Ian Cohen writing: "It’s risky to use their studio albums to say anything definitive about the Men at this point. So let’s just forget about narratives and evolution and appreciate Open Your Heart as a record that makes them sound capable of doing whatever the hell they want. It cycles through barnstorming classic rawk, searing punk, beer-chugging country, and muscular krautrock. If you basically like any kind of music made with guitars, there’s something for you here."[22] The same website ranked the title track at number 40 on its list of the top 100 tracks of 2012.[23] The album was listed at number 17 on Stereogum's list of top 50 albums of 2012.[24]

Track listing

All songs written by The Men.

  1. "Turn It Around" – 3:55
  2. "Animal" – 2:50
  3. "Country Song" – 5:47
  4. "Oscillation" – 7:20
  5. "Please Don't Go Away" – 3:00
  6. "Open Your Heart" – 3:40
  7. "Candy" – 3:16
  8. "Cube" – 2:25
  9. "Presence" – 7:23
  10. "Ex-Dreams" – 5:30

Personnel

The following people contributed to Open Your Heart:[25]

The Men
  • Nick Chiericozzi
  • Kevin Faulkner
  • Chris Hansell
  • Mark Perro
  • Rich Samis
Additional personnel
  • Ben Greenberg – engineering
  • Josh Bonati – mastering
  • Ryan Marino – inside photography
  • Holly Overton – vocals

Charts
Chart (2012) Peak
position
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[26] 32
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[27] 8
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[28] 47

References
  1. Men, The (2) – Open Your Heart. Discogs. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  2. Sundermann, Eric (March 26, 2012). "Interview: The Men, "We're Not Trying To Save Punk. We're Not Trying To Destroy Punk. We're Just Trying To Do Our Thing."". Prefix Mag. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  3. Stosuy, Brandon (January 24, 2012). "The Men". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  4. Pelly, Jenn (December 14, 2011). "The Men Announce New Album". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  5. Gotrich, Lars (January 24, 2012). "The Men: Bursting At The Seams". NPR. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  6. Fitzmaurice, Larry (February 17, 2012). "Listen: The Men: "Ex-Dreams"". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  7. McCallum, Robert (May 31, 2012). "Leave Your Heart At Home: An Interview With The Men". The Quietus. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  8. Cherrie, Chyrsta. "Open Your Heart – The Men". AllMusic. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  9. Loucaides, Darren (March 16, 2012). "The Men Open Your Heart Review". BBC Music. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  10. Cohen, Ian (March 5, 2012). "The Men: Open Your Heart". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  11. Sundstrom, Emma (April 17, 2012). "The Men: Open Your Heart". PopMatters. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  12. "Open Your Heart by The Men reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  13. "Reviews for Open Your Heart by The Men". Metacritic. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  14. Heller, Jason (March 6, 2012). "The Men: Open Your Heart". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  15. Hughes, Tom (March 22, 2012). "The Men: Open Your Heart – review". The Guardian. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  16. Carroll, Jim (April 6, 2012). "The Men". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  17. "The Men: Open Your Heart". Mojo (222): 82. May 2012.
  18. Gardner, Noel (March 2, 2012). "The Men – 'Open Your Heart'". NME. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  19. Dolan, Jon (March 12, 2012). "Open Your Heart". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  20. Harvilla, Rob (March 6, 2012). "The Men, 'Open Your Heart' (Sacred Bones)". Spin. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  21. "The Men: Open Your Heart". Uncut (180): 79. May 2012.
  22. "The Top 50 Albums of 2012". Pitchfork. December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  23. "The Top 100 Tracks of 2012". Pitchfork. December 17, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  24. "Stereogum's Top 50 Albums Of 2012". Stereogum. December 5, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  25. "Open Your Heart – The Men (Credits)". AllMusic. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  26. "The Men Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  27. "The Men Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  28. "The Men Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
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