Versions (Poison the Well album)
Versions is Poison the Well's fourth studio album. It was released on April 2, 2007, in Europe and April 3, 2007, World Wide via Ferret Music. Versions is the first release for Poison the Well on Ferret Music and is also the band's first release since 2003's You Come Before You. In Japan, the album was released by Howling Bull Entertainment and features the bonus track "Oceanbreast".
| Versions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 2, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | Tonteknik Recording Studios, Umeå, Sweden | |||
| Genre | Post-hardcore | |||
| Length | 41:58 | |||
| Label | Ferret Music | |||
| Producer | Eskil Lövström, Pelle Henricsson | |||
| Poison the Well chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk.net | 82%[1] |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Spin | [3] |
The trio of Ryan Primack (guitar), Chris Hornbrook (drums) and Jeffrey Moreira (vocals) wrote the album over a number of years. Primack describes the material as having many more colors and nuances than previous work. "The songs are pretty open-ended and there's a lot of unique instrumentation in the background throughout such as mandolins, slide guitar, horns and banjo," he says.
Primack, who plays all of the more unusual instruments on the disc, adds, "This is not out of the blue. We actually started to add these elements to the last album but we didn't have time to flesh them out like with 'Versions'. It's going to be a really different sounding album in hardcore. Well, as different as you can be in hardcore nowadays."
Track listing
- "Letter Thing" - 2:28
- "Breathings for the Birds" - 3:41
- "Nagaina" - 4:10
- "The Notches That Create Your Headboard" - 2:30
- "Pleading Post" - 3:36
- "Slow Good Morning" - 5:05
- "Prematurito el Baby" - 2:53
- "Composer Meet Corpse" - 2:30
- "You Will Not Be Welcomed" - 4:46
- "Naive Monarch" - 2:24
- "Riverside" - 3:02
- "The First Day of My Second Life" - 4:53
Bonus Tracks:
- "Wreck Itself Taking You With Me" – 3:21 (European & vinyl bonus track)
- "Oceanbreast" 4:17 – (Japanese bonus track)
Singles
To coincide with a string of headlining dates, and in support of Versions, Poison the Well released the album's opening track "Letter Thing" as a digital-only single on March 13. The single is available via iTunes and all other download platforms. A video has also been released for "Letter Thing", directed by Roboshobo (The Blood Brothers, Mates of State). The video features stop motion animation figures which speak in subtitled Norse runes throughout the video, saying the following: "The hour grows near; The weak flesh shall be tempered by fire; Face what is yours; With this ring, I thee wed"
Credits
- Jeffrey Moreira (vocals)
- Ryan Primack (guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, synthesizer, wurlitzer piano and backing vocals)
- Chris Hornbrook (drums and percussion)
- Jason Boyer (guitar on tracks 4, 6, 9, 11 and 12)
- Pelle Henricsson (percussion, synthesizer, wurlitzer piano, second snare drum and noise on all tracks)
- Eskil Lövström (muu guitar, trumpet, and trombone on tracks 5, 8 and 11)
- Brian Montuori (cover art)
References
- Beringer, Drew (April 1, 2007). "Poison The Well - Versions". AbsolutePunk. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
- Rivadavia, Eduardo. Versions at AllMusic
- Burgess, Aaron (May 2007). "Reviews: New CDs". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. 23 (5): 90. ISSN 0886-3032.