27 passports

27 passports is a 2018 album by the Dutch band The Ex. It is the group's first studio album in five years since Enormous Door,[1] their 2013 collaboration with Brass Unbound, and The Ex's first album of all new material since 2010's Catch My Shoe.[8]

27 passports
Studio album by
The Ex
ReleasedMarch 22, 2018
RecordedOctober–November, 2017
StudioElectric Monkey Studio and Arnolds Upstairs, Amsterdam
Genre
Length56:46
LabelNorman Records,[2] Ex Records
ProducerThe Ex
The Ex chronology
Enormous Door
(2013)		 27 passports
(2018)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Mondo Sonoro8/10[3]
OndaRock7.5/10[4]
Ox-Fanzine[5]
Tom HullA[6]
Vice (Expert Witness)A-[7]

Background

After The Ex's original vocalist G.W. Sok left the group in 2009, the band adopted Arnold de Boer from the band Zea on vocals and third guitar, writing and recording the 2010 album Catch My Shoe. Over the next several years the group toured and recorded two collaborative LPs with Ethiopian saxophone player Getatchew Mekurya and international horn quartet Brass Unbound, as well as several singles, including one with Addis Ababa collective Fendika. The group began working on an album of new material in April 2017, and by July were playing it as a set in front of live audiences.[1] In October and November, the band spent three days in the studio recording the album's 10 songs, laying down overdubs and mixing in de Boer's home studio.

Release & Packaging

27 passports was released via LP, CD and digital download in March 2018.[9] The vinyl release of the album came with a full-size 36-page booklet of photographs by guitarist Andy Moor.[10]

Reception

Robert Christgau, writing for Noisey, called the album an "unrelenting hour of protest music" and considered it an improvement over Catch My Shoe.[7] The Quietus considered it to be "possibly their most accomplished to date; still brimful of ideas and wisdom and still spitting out enough attitude and trickery to last most bands a career [...] they continue to get better and better".[11]

Norman Records and Oor ranked it the 7th[12] and 9th[13] best album of the year respectively. Tom Hull ranked it the best non-jazz album of 2018,[14] while Christgau ended up ranking it at #22 on his "Dean's List 2019" (which includes albums from both 2018 & 2019).[15]

Track listing
  1. "Soon All Cities" 6:27
  2. "The Heart Conductor" 4:49
  3. "This Car is My Guest" 6:35
  4. "New Blank Document" 7:17
  5. "Silent Waste" 2:36
  6. "Piecemeal" 6:56
  7. "Birth" 4:24
  8. "Footfall" 5:00
  9. "The Sitting Chins" 5:27
  10. "Four Billion Tulip Bulbs" 7:09

Personnel
  • Arnold de Boer (vocals, guitar, claps)
  • Katherina Bornefeld (drums, vocals)
  • Terrie Hessels (guitar)
  • Andy Moor (guitar, baritone guitar, photography)

References
  1. Gourlay, Dom (April 9, 2018). "The Ex: Still going strong at 39 | Gigwise". www.gigwise.com. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  2. Foster, Richard (March 25, 2018). "The Quietus | Reviews | The Ex". The Quietus. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  7. Ross, Alex Robert; Christgau, Robert (25 January 2019). "Robert Christgau on The Ex's Protest Music and Idles' Rage".
  8. Manley, Brian (March 29, 2018). "The Ex - "27 Passports" | Album Review". Post-Trash. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  9. "27 passports". Bandcamp. The Ex.
  10. "The Ex - 27 Passports". Rough Trade. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  11. "The Quietus - Reviews - The Ex". The Quietus.
  12. "The Best Albums of the Year 2018 - Norman Records UK". www.normanrecords.com.
  13. "Album van het jaar: Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer (nieuws)".
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