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Bark Your Head Off, Dog

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Bark Your Head Off, Dog
Studio album by
Hop Along
ReleasedApril 6, 2018
Recorded2017
StudioThe Headroom (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
GenreIndie rock
Length40:09
LabelSaddle Creek
ProducerHop Along, Joe Reinhart
Hop Along chronology
Painted Shut
(2015) 		Bark Your Head Off, Dog
(2018)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10[1]
Metacritic81/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The A.V. ClubB−[4]
DIY[5]
Drowned in Sound9/10[6]
Exclaim!9/10[7]
Pitchfork8.0/10[8]
The Skinny[9]
Under the Radar7/10[10]

Bark Your Head Off, Dog is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Hop Along. It was self-produced, written over the course of 2016 and 2017, recorded at The Headroom in Philadelphia during 2017, and released on April 6, 2018.[11]

The album's cover artwork is an abstract landscape portrait painted by frontperson Frances Quinlan.[12]

Background and recording

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The album was recorded at the Headroom, guitarist Joe Rinehardt's home recording studio in Philadelphia.[13]

Musical style

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The sound on Bark Your Head Off, Dog has been described as "warmer", "more spacious" and more "vibrantly diverse" than its predecessor.[14][15] Additionally, the album uses more "danceable" rhythms, and its opening track "How Simple" has been called "one of the band's poppiest moments".[16][17][18] The album continues the band's usual blend of grunge, punk rock and power pop, and is also said to contain elements of progressive rock, folk rock,[19] and lofi music.[20][21] The album also makes use of unorthodox instruments such as harps, pizzicato, mandolins, fiddles,[22] electric piano and vocoders.[23]

Rhinehart's guitar work on the album has been compared to Algernon Cadwallader, his previous band. NPR wrote that the guitarist employed "twinkly, expressive guitar riffs that defined his defunct emo band Algernon Cadwallader and made that music feel unbridled and joyous."[24]

Critical reception

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Bark Your Head Off, Dog was met with "universal acclaim" by critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the release received an average score of 81 based on 14 reviews.[2]

Music aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 79 out of 100 score based on a critical consensus of 20 reviews,[25] and, after aggregating a number of 2018's year-end best-albums lists, placed the album at #43 in the resultant ranking of the best 100 albums of the year.[26]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."How Simple"3:48
2."Somewhere a Judge"3:52
3."How You Got Your Limp"2:36
4."Not Abel"4:36
5."The Fox in Motion"3:59
6."One That Suits Me"5:16
7."What the Writer Meant"4:07
8."Look of Love"6:12
9."Prior Things"5:43

Charts

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Chart performance for Bark Your Head Off, Dog
Chart (2018) Peak
position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[27]
2
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[28]
9

References

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  1. ^ "Bark Your Head Off, Dog by Hop Along reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Bark Your Head Off, Dog by Hop Along Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  3. ^ Donelson, Marcy. "Bark Your Head Off, Dog – Hop Along". AllMusic. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  4. ^ McLevy, Alex (April 6, 2018). "Hop Along, Bark Your Head Off, Dog". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  5. ^ Richards, Will (April 6, 2018). "Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog". DIY. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  6. ^ Slaughter, Matthew (April 16, 2018). "Album Review: Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  7. ^ Firth, Cole (April 3, 2018). "Hop Along: Bark Your Head Off, Dog". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  8. ^ Greene, Jayson (April 6, 2018). "Hop Along: Bark Your Head Off, Dog". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  9. ^ Butchard, Stephen (April 3, 2018). "Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog". The Skinny. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  10. ^ Turner-Heffer, Adam (April 3, 2018). "Hop Along: Bark Your Head Off, Dog (Saddle Creek) Review". Under the Radar. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  11. ^ "Bark Your Head Off, Dog". Saddle Creek Records. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  12. ^ Freedman, Max (February 3, 2020). "Frances Quinlan on Her Favorite Paintings (and Two of Her Own)". Interview. Retrieved November 23, 2024. Quinlan hasn't backed away from her first love, even as her band has found itself becoming a fan favorite and critical darling. The artwork for Hop Along's most recent album, 2018's Bark Your Head Off, Dog, is an abstract landscape portrait that would make Quinlan's painterly heroes proud.
  13. ^ https://www.spin.com/2018/04/hop-along-bark-your-head-off-dog-review/
  14. ^ Greene, Jayson. "Hop Along: Bark Your Head Off, Dog". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  15. ^ Johnson, Eugenie. "My bark is your bite: Hop Along". DIY. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  16. ^ https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/579905625/songs-we-love-hop-along-how-simple
  17. ^ https://www.spin.com/2018/04/hop-along-bark-your-head-off-dog-review/
  18. ^ "Interview: Hop Along's Frances Quinlan on Expanding Their DIY Rock Vision". Reverb. June 12, 2018. Retrieved November 23, 2024. Though one may assume the resulting album would be a return-to-basics affair, the setup allowed Hop Along to use their long-standing DIY impulses to craft a record with an expanded sonic palette that includes strings, danceable rhythms, and orchestral-pop arrangements—all while maintaining the power and frankness of their earlier work.
  19. ^ Greene, Jayson. "Hop Along: Bark Your Head Off, Dog". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  20. ^ https://www.spin.com/2018/04/hop-along-bark-your-head-off-dog-review/
  21. ^ "My bark is your bite: Hop Along". DIY. Retrieved November 23, 2024. 'Bark Your Head Off, Dog' sees Hop Along at their most vibrantly diverse. It still features the grunge and punk-inflected tones that coloured its predecessors, with rollicking guitar lines and soaring power-pop hooks, but there's also added intricacies, from sweeping and lush orchestral arrangements to blissful harmonies.
  22. ^ Greene, Jayson. "Hop Along: Bark Your Head Off, Dog". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  23. ^ https://www.spin.com/2018/04/hop-along-bark-your-head-off-dog-review/
  24. ^ https://www.npr.org/2018/04/02/597609359/first-listen-hop-along-bark-your-head-off-dog
  25. ^ "Album of the Year Review". Album of the Year. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  26. ^ "2018 Music Year End List Aggregate". albumoftheyear.org. January 10, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
  27. ^ "Heatseekers Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  28. ^ "Independent Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved October 13, 2020.

Further reading

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