This World Is Not For You

Ted Leo “The Hanged Man”

“Moon Out of Phase” opens Ted Leo’s first album in seven years, The Hanged Man with a heavy riff that sets up an expectation for a familiar sort of hard rock song but then leaves you in suspense indefinitely as you wait for the drums to come crashing in. They never do arrive, and the only percussion that makes it into the track is some gently ringing sleigh bells that keep the rhythm while Ted plays a brief solo.

I like this as a meta move signifying that things are different now, and that, yeah, it’s just Ted here, the Pharmacists aren’t around for this one. But it also sets up a lot of moods and themes for the record as a whole – life isn’t gonna go the way you want it to, sometimes you gotta make it your own way, disappointments can be opportunities. This is a great showcase for Ted’s voice, which hovers over the rhythm with a gentle grace at odds with the sludgy distortion on the guitar. He’s worked in this mode before on “Stove By A Whale” from the first Pharmacists record, but the absence of the rhythm section changes the dynamic completely – it ends up sounding less like metal and more like a private ritual, or a prayer.

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