PopMatters.com, the same people responsible for the exhaustive Salim Nourallah we linked to, um, back in April (for those of you scoring at home), bring us a much more concise take on Sorta's upcoming self-titled fifth disc today, focusing largely (and completely unsurprisingly) on the loss of Carter Albrecht and the remaining band members' ability to cope with their loss as they moved forward with the completion of the album.
Obviously, this is going to be a recurring theme in all stories we read about Sorta in the coming weeks as the band prepares for the disc's October 21 release date. And though maybe that's unfortunate--do we really want to re-open still-healing wounds?--it's also probably unavoidable.
The piece, which is housed in the site's Now Hear This! feature section, tackles the Albrecht topic by referring to the man as the "patron saint" of the local music scene, and also introduces the Barley House as an integral leg of the local music scene. The former is tough to argue with, especially given the circumstances, but the latter hasn't been true since the venue switched locales--which is what makes the Freudian typo, where writer Joseph E. Carter accidentally refers to the bar/venue as the "Barely House" at least a little funny. Also, the ever-presence of Nourallah throughout the piece does seem a bit out of place.
Still, the intent of the article is to highlight the upcoming record, and it's author does accomplish that task quite well:
If the true test of art lies in its honesty, then the men of Sorta are indeed artists. Without the prologue of Albrecht’s tragic loss, the awareness of the record being Sorta’s curtain call, or any other context, this record is still a beautiful testament to the talent of some of Dallas’s most prized musicians. If indeed it is over, it has ended on the perfect note.
We'll have our own take on the disc in the coming weeks--this one strikes us as a tad odd, mostly because it comes so early before the disc's release--so keep an eye out for that. --Pete Freedman
