Cellar Door (John Vanderslice album)

{{Infobox album

| name = Cellar Door

| type = studio

| artist = John Vanderslice

| cover = Cellar Door cover.jpg

| alt =

| released = January 20, 2004

| recorded = 2003

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Indie rock

| length = 42:02

| label = Barsuk{{Cite web|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2004-03-19/202842/|title=John Vanderslice: Cellar Door Album Review|website=www.austinchronicle.com}}

| producer = Scott Solter, John Vanderslice

| prev_title = Life and Death of an American Fourtracker

| prev_year = 2002

| next_title = Pixel Revolt

| next_year = 2005

}}{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score ={{Rating|4.5|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/cellar-door-mw0000325693|title=Cellar Door - John Vanderslice | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}

|rev2=

|rev2Score=

|rev3=Pitchfork Media

|rev3Score=7.9/10{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8403-cellar-door/|title=John Vanderslice: Cellar Door|website=Pitchfork}}

}}

Cellar Door is an album by John Vanderslice, released in 2004.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-vanderslice-mn0000190920/biography|title=John Vanderslice | Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1759989|title=John Vanderslice: 'Cellar Door'|website=NPR.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://classic.esquire.com/article/2004/1/1/a-songwriter-who-matters|title=A Songwriter Who Matters | Esquire | January 2004|first=andy|last=langer|website=Esquire | The Complete Archive}} The album contains a few songs based on then-recent films: "Promising Actress" is about Mulholland Drive and "When It Hits My Blood" narrates Requiem For A Dream.

The phrase cellar door is one of the most beautiful phrases in the English language, according to J.R.R. Tolkien.{{Relevance inline|paragraph|date=September 2024|reason=We need a citation connecting this fact to Vanderslice's choice of the album's name. If he's said that Tolkien is the reason he chose the name, that's relevant; if he hasn't, then this is just a random, unconnected fact that should be removed from the article.}}

Critical reception

The Austin Chronicle wrote that the "rogues' gallery of miscreants and misanthropes dart among simple instrumentation (synth, guitar, drums) as Vanderslice channels their tales." Exclaim! noted that "as the content gets darker, the music grows strangely pretty, with delicate guitar, bells and his distinctive big, weird drum sound."{{Cite web|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/john_vanderslice-cellar_door|title=John Vanderslice Cellar Door|website=exclaim.ca}}

Track listing

All tracks written by John Vanderslice, except the lyrics for Pale Horse, adapted from Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy.

"Pale Horse" – 2:41
"Up Above the Sea" – 3:41
"Wild Strawberries" – 1:50
"They Won't Let Me Run" – 3:52
"Heated Pool and Bar" – 4:04
"My Family Tree" – 2:24
"White Plains" – 4:18
"Promising Actress" – 4:29
"Coming and Going on Easy Terms" – 4:27
"Lunar Landscapes" – 2:50
"When It Hits My Blood" – 3:27
"June July" – 4:01

References

Category:2004 albums

Category:John Vanderslice albums