Manchester Orchestra, 'Pale Black Eye' (Interface)

While Manchester Orchestra's third studio album may be unified by Hull's thematic struggle to make sense of his life, his career and his marriage, the record is not as much a traditional concept piece as a 10-song dialog between the harrowed frontman and himself.

At times reflective, confessional, furious and bitter; 'Simple Math' is a revelatory trial by fire, a portrait of a man still trapped in the rubble of a collapse, exulting at the light at the end of the tunnel.

"I've never had anything against somebody else bringing songs to the table. It's not like some rule of Manchester Orchestra that I have to write all the songs, it just so happens that I have." -- Andy Hull