It’s been over thirty years since John Flansburgh and John Linnell formed the band They Might Be Giants and presented the world with their own unique style of unconventional alternative rock but their new compilation album Idlewild focuses solely on the band’s last fifteen years on their own label.
The band states that Idlewild isn’t your average “best of” or rarities album but rather “an ultra-vivid illustration of the band’s prodigious output and singular musical vision” which is as accurate a description as could be applied to thTMBG_Idlewilde project. As the crisp paper plane on the album’s cover illustrates, the entire record really does flow in one clear and concise direction so much so that it feels as if each track on Idlewild came from the same recording session even though, obviously, they didn’t. That’s not to say that the band’s output over the last fifteen years has been much of the same (from the Aphex Twin-like opening track Am I Awake to the wispy acoustic heavy song Words Are Like, each selection has its own unique personality) but the selections still share a common spirit that makes each track fit ever so neatly together.
The album is incredibly accessible to fans and non-fans alike but it does rest in a gray space of TMBG fandom. As I said above the album isn’t a “best of” so many casual fans of the band’s earlier work may notice a lack of “hits” so to speak and to those fans I say simply check out the excellent 2002 compilation Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants or 2005’s A User’s Guide to They Might Be Giants. On the other hand, if you’re a hardcore TMBG fan you may have the problem of either already owning all of these tracks or feeling your favorite track from the Idlewild years wasn’t included but these are both common problems with any compilation album. To me, I feel like Idlewild works as the perfect introduction for either new fans of TMBG or as a reintroduction to old fans that may have lost track of the band’s last fifteen years and want to catch up.
Whether you’re an old fan, new fan or never heard of the band at all Idlewild manages to flawlessly illustrate the experimental yet familiar spirit that really makes They Might Be Giants so special. Go pick it up today!