The Song Meaning Wiki

Bark Your Head Off, Dog

Hop AlongStudioApril 6, 2018

About this Album

Bark Your Head Off, Dog is the fourth studio album by Philadelphia indie rock band Hop Along, released April 6, 2018, on Saddle Creek.[1] It was written across 2016 and 2017 and recorded at Headroom, guitarist Joe Reinhart's home studio in Philadelphia, with the band and Reinhart producing.[1]

Critics found it warmer and more spacious than Painted Shut, with harps, mandolins, fiddles and vocoders alongside the guitars, and Frances Quinlan painted the abstract landscape on the cover.[1] The band gave themselves extra weeks to explore the songs and add strings.[3] It earned a Metacritic score of 81, with Pitchfork at 8.0 and Exclaim! at 9 out of 10.[1] NPR's reviewer read it as a study in introspection and frustration, taking in abuses of power, moral posturing and the blur between memoir and fiction.[2]

Songs

Not Abel

References

  1. Bark Your Head Off, Dog (Wikipedia) — Release date, recording at Headroom, production, personnel, artwork, instrumentation and critical reception.
  2. Hop Along, "Not Abel" (Spin) — Reading of the song as driven by Cain's jealousy and a tangled sibling bond.
  3. Hop Along's Frances Quinlan on the importance of staying flexible (Shepherd Express) — Quinlan on the song being two songs, Knausgaard, religion, vocals and the album's making.