Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Albums Collection 2006-2012 (4CD) [Re-Up]

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Albums Collection 2006-2012 (4CD) [Re-Up]

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The bittersweet indie rock of Margot & the Nuclear So and So's was primarily the work of singer/songwriter Richard Edwards, who formed the collective in his native Indianapolis in 2004. At times incorporating elements of chamber pop, '90s alt-rock, or country into the project's moody, melodic songs, the group released six studio LPs in total, counting both Not Animal and Animal! from 2008. The latter was a reworked version made without label interference; the former became Margot's sole appearance on the Billboard 200. Edwards released Bride on the Boxcar: A Decade of Margot Rarities 2004-2014 in 2015 before retiring the moniker and beginning to record under his own name in 2017.

Named after the Margot Tenenbaum character in Wes Anderson's sophisticated comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's took root in 2004, when Edwards decided to flesh out his scenic chamber pop sound with help from guitarist Andy Fry, cellist Jesse Lee, pianist Emily Watkins, trumpeter Hubert Glover, drummer Chris Fry, percussionist Casey Tennis, and bassist Tyler Watkins. The band's debut album, The Dust of Retreat, was issued on the local indie label Standard Recording in 2005. The picturesque, dozen-song set earned the band a loyal following, and Margot & the Nuclear So and So's signed with Artemis Records later that year. A remixed and remastered version of The Dust of Retreat was released in March 2006, but a series of label acquisitions (Artemis bought V2, Virgin Records effectively absorbed the band, and Capitol merged with Virgin) convinced the group to partner with another company instead. They relocated to the Epic roster in October 2007 while working on their sophomore release. After tracking approximately 25 songs, however, the band clashed with Epic over which songs to include in the final release. As a result, two versions of the album were issued: Animal!, a vinyl and digital release of the band's preferred version, and Not Animal, a traditional CD release featuring those songs favored by the label.

After touring in support of the Animal! albums, Edwards relocated to Chicago and began pruning the band's lineup, eventually dissolving it altogether and rebuilding it from the ground up. Margot & the Nuclear So and So's thus became a six-piece band featuring Brian Deck on drums, Ronnie Kwasman and Erik Kang on guitars, Cameron McGill on keyboards, and Tyler Watkins on bass. Watkins and Kang had both played in an earlier version of Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, while the other three were Chicago-based musicians who joined the lineup in 2009. After building a makeshift recording studio in an abandoned movie theater, the six explored a lean, rock-influenced sound on Buzzard, which became the band's third album upon its release in September 2010. In 2012, the band returned with Rot Gut, Domestic, a stylistically adventurous album exploring more guitar-driven '90s-styled rock and flirting with country & western influences. Fifth album Sling Shot to Heaven arrived in 2014, recorded entirely to analog tape in the band's home studio and released on its own label. An alternate live version of the album, Tell Me More About Evil, followed later in the year and was also issued as a concert film.

Entering its second decade of existence, the group released an expansive collection of over 50 previously unreleased songs, demos, and alternate takes titled Bride on the Boxcar: A Decade of Margot Rarities 2004-2014. The five-LP box set offered an album's worth of tracks from each of the band's original full-lengths to date and arrived via Joyful Noise in late 2015. The label also released Edwards' first album under his own name, Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset, in 2017. Though Edwards had ceased to record as Margot, Vulgar in the Chapel: Animal, a collection of demos from Animal! and Not Animal, appeared via SRC Vinyl in 2018.

Biography by Andrew Leahey, Allmusic.com

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Albums Collection 2006-2012 (4CD) [Re-Up]

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Albums Collection 2006-2012 (4CD) [Re-Up]

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's have created an album that both the casual music fan and music perfectionist will enjoy. The Dust of Retreat is a cinematic chamber pop songbook of what was once and what might have been. Singer/songwriter Richard Edwards, only in his early twenties when he composed these mini-epics, is quite fond of New York. Mesmerized by the Greenwich Village art scene of the 1960s and curious about how people lived during that time, he uses this interest as the inspiration behind The Dust of Retreat. Whether that is through film, poetry, or music, the notion that another world exists within those realms holds a romantic kind of quality. That kind of thing is nearly unimaginable unless you lived through it; however, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's build upon some of those castles in the sky. It takes a band of eight to realize this vision, as a lush assortment of strings, brass, percussion, and guitars keeps The Dust of Retreat at a steady pace, regardless of the mood and tone of each song. Edwards is like a less anxious Conor Oberst on the more melodic, folky tracks such as "On a Freezing Chicago Street" and "Skeleton Key." Hints of melancholy waltz along on the acoustically painted "A Light on a Hill" and "Jen Is Bringin the Drugs," but it's the orchestrated pop moments where The Dust of Retreat really takes shape. Just when you think Edwards' voice is going to break, he gains control again, particularly on the album's standout track, "Quiet as a Mouse." Edwards' soaring vocal keeps hope alive in the midst of sorting out self-discovery: "When I awoke/I was alive in somebody's room/I felt life and love and hope infesting my bones/Wake up, you've got a lot of things to do/Wake up, the sun is rising without you." You want to believe him. What The Dust of Retreat does for indie rock in 2006 is almost everything Neutral Milk Hotel wanted to do in 1998 with In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Just give it a chance. [The Dust of Retreat was resequenced and remastered for Artemis Records in 2006].

Review by MacKenzie Wilson, Allmusic.com

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Albums Collection 2006-2012 (4CD) [Re-Up]

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's signed with Epic Records in 2007, having made enough waves with The Dust of Retreat to partner with a major label. The big leagues aren't always accommodating to new bands, however, and the band quickly clashed with Epic over which songs to include on their follow-up album. Two different records were ultimately released: the band's preferred version, Animal!, and the Epic-approved Not Animal, which featured those songs favored by the label. The latter record was the only one to receive a proper CD treatment, with Animal! being relegated to a vinyl/digital release.

Accordingly, Not Animal isn't the album Margot intended to issue; instead, it's a compromise between the band's evolving sound and the label's desire for a marketable product. Yet despite the concessions that Margot & the Nuclear So and So's had to make, this sophomore record is hardly conventional. Not Animal takes an experimental approach to the band's chamber pop sound, which previously drew parallels to Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire. Those comparisons are less evident on this 12-track album, where the band's eight members rarely pile their instruments into lush, orchestral heaps. Instead, they play their cards like veteran poker players, waiting for key moments to throw down a loaded hand. It takes restraint to act this way – to downplay the sheer noise that such a big ensemble can make – and Not Animal sometimes sounds like a Richard Edwards solo album, since he helms the bulk of these songs with his guitar and weary vocals. When the band comes together, though, Not Animal sounds like the wiser older brother to Retreat's wide-eyed child. One of the strongest tracks, "As Tall as Cliffs," opens with harmonica and bouncing acoustic guitar before slowly adding layers: Emily Watkins' harmonies, Andy Fry's electric guitar, multiple percussive instruments, and – for a brief 20-second period at the end of the track – a big sonic swell featuring the entire band. The highlights continue; "Real Naked Girls" is an atmospheric ballad with with Nintendo-styled keyboards and strings, "Pages Written on a Wall" mixes James Bond guitar riffs with mariachi horns, and "Hello Vagina" manages to sound sadly sweet despite its masturbatory lyrics ("I am your right hand; I am your best man"). Not Animal gets better as it goes along – the sparser, melancholic songs are pushed to the front, leaving the band's energetic tunes to bring up the rear – which means the album ends on a high note, effectively masking most of the sour taste left by the band's battle with Epic Records.

Review by Andrew Leahey, Allmusic.com

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Albums Collection 2006-2012 (4CD) [Re-Up]

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, once a sprawling octet featuring horn players, violinists, and two different percussionists, have made a habit of redefining themselves with each album. After releasing The Dust of Retreat in 2005 (and reissuing it to a wider audience in 2006), the group ditched its chamber pop approach and recorded Animal!, a textured sophomore album that couched the band’s pretty melodies in sparse, Elliott Smith-worthy balladry and indie rock experimentation. More changes are afoot on Buzzard, Margot’s first record as a slimmed-down sextet. By now, it’s become more than clear that Richard Edwards is the ringleader. He’s the vocalist, the songwriter, the person with enough authority to dissolve the entire band and rebuilt it from scratch, using two previous bandmates and three new ones to create a lineup devoid of strings and horn players. Under Edwards’ direction, the Nuclear So and So’s become a lean, raw rock band on Buzzard, which doubles as the band’s first genuine rock album.

This is still a Margot record, though, meaning there’s enough eccentricity and surrealism to keep things unexpected. Edwards is a volatile personality, capable of crooning an ode to self-pity one minute and lashing out at a lover the next. “If you wanna go, get lost/If you wanna stay, shut up,” he sings during “Claws Off.” Several songs later, he half-heartedly tries to patch things up, explaining, “I’m never gonna break your heart/Not unless I have to.” Electric guitars anchor nearly every song, and a clarinet solo on “Tiny Vampire Robot” is one of the only hints at The Dust of Retreat’s orchestral sound. It’s easy to miss the early days, when Edwards combated his melancholia with the sweeping swells of a seven-piece chamber pop band, but this is a different band altogether – not better, not worse, just entirely different.

Review by Andrew Leahey, Allmusic.com

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Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Albums Collection 2006-2012 (4CD) [Re-Up]

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On their fourth album, Rot Gut, Domestic (fifth if you include Not Animal as an album instead of a companion piece to its preferred version Animal!) Chicago indie crew Margot and the Nuclear So and So's rough up the chamber pop sound of their previous releases. The band's involvement with Brian Deck and Tim Rutili, each members of both Califone and Red Red Meat, is apparent from the first strains of the trudging "Disease Tobacco Free." The song's fuzzy lope is an updated take on the feedbacky slowcore of '90s bands like Codeine or Red Red Meat themselves. Kick-off single "Prozac Rock" follows this '90s-heavy influence with a lazy sunburst of overdriven guitars and west coast imagery that end up sounding like a happier Afghan Whigs than the overblown Arcade Fire-isms of earlier records. There are still more than enough internet-era influences at play, however. Any band so obsessed with filmmaker Wes Anderson that they name an album after his favorite Muppet is going to have some unshakable traces of Radiohead, Bright Eyes, and well, Wes Anderson soundtracks. Principle songwriter Richard Edwards toys with different approaches to this overused set of baseline influences. His random howls and interjections of manic laughter on the drunkenly woozy "Shannon" give the song a legitimately uneasy feeling. The story-song "A Journalist Falls in Love with Death Row Inmate #16" shakes up the album's continuity with dark lyrics over a quirky, would-be traditional country & western song, but this over-stylized nugget in the context of a highly stylized album ends up coming off as disingenuous kitsch. This becomes the main problem with Margot and the Nuclear So and So's. Even in their best moments, every move feels overly calculated and wraps up so nicely that even what are intended as unpredictable turns are pretty predictable. While the smiling-through-the-tears sentimentality of "Coonskin Cap" is pleasant enough, its pristine pop hooks and perfectly placed emotional climaxes seem completely staged and thusly render the song instantly forgettable. Even the more unhinged moments of cacophonous '90s-touched noise rock ("The Devil") get compressed into tiny packages as shiny as the moody chamber pop ("Frank Left," "Christ") and the entire album rushes by in an inoffensive blur.

Review by Fred Thomas, Allmusic.com