YMMV / His Name Is Alive

• Archive Panic: They're quite productive for such an underground band, having produced nearly two dozen studio albums alongside a number of smaller releases, and many of their more obscure releases can be difficult to track down.
• Awesome Music: Pretty much all of it, though their first four releases under 4AD are almost universally considered to be their best work. Following their reunion, Detrola, XMMER, The Eclipse, Tecuciztecatl, and Patterns of Light are also very well loved.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The weird interruptions on "Sick", where the music abruptly stops and is replaced with the sound of a flute playing somewhere in the distance and electronic squeaking noises, before the song resumes as though nothing has happened.
  • "Ear", a letter to a friend that just describes Vincent van Gogh mutilating himself in graphic detail. We'd say it Makes Just as Much Sense in Context, but there is no context. The fact that there's No Ending doesn't help either.
• Bizarro Episode: "Electrical Powers (Turn Me On)". Musically it's nothing new for this group, but suffice to say that hearing male vocals in a His Name is Alive song is like hearing a mellotron solo in a Black Flag song.
• Broken Base: Regarding the band's switch to a more jazz and gospel influenced sound on Ft. Lake and Last Night. Some fans really dislike those albums for departing from the band's classic sound. Still other fans like the albums fine and point out that the band doesn't really have a singular sound to begin with.
• Cult Classic: The band itself is one. They never had a huge following, but they maintain a very devoted fanbase to this day.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: For 4AD Records' old roster.
• Epic Riff: "This World is Not My Home", "Can't Always Be Loved", "Wish I Had a Wishing Ring", "Hold On To Your Half", "Patterns of Light", and "Black Wings" all give notable examples.
• Growing the Beard: Their first two albums are still well regarded, but they contain more of the classic 4AD sound and aesthetic, with not much to distinguish them from other artists on the label such as This Mortal Coil. It's on Mouth by Mouth where they really came into their own, with a more singular, eccentric pop sound, stronger songwriting, and an unmistakably American feel that set them apart from everyone else.
• Nightmare Fuel: The music videos for "Are We Still Married" and "Can't Go Wrong Without You", made by stop motion Surreal Horror masters The Brothers Quay. The latter song is quite unsettling in its own right, with its screeching guitars that sound vaguely out of tune and the Dissonant Serenity of the vocals.
  • Much of Livonia could also be considered this. The album has a very ghostly, dreamlike atmosphere throughout that can be quite unsettling, as well as outright disturbing moments like the distorted wailing noises at the beginning of "E Nicolle" or the lyrics of "How Ghosts Affect Relationships", which are seemingly about a house haunted by someone buried beneath its floorboards.
• Signature Song: "Are We Still Married" or "This World is Not My Home". "Sitting Still Moving Still Staring Outlooking" could also be this for its use in a pivotal scene in Jerry Maguire.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: Quite a lot of their music, but "Sitting Still Moving Still Staring Outlooking", "Lip", "Bad Luck Girl", and "Silver Arc Curving in the Magnetic Field" are probably the best.
  • Pretty much every song on The Eclipse could count, too, particularly "Vanilia" and the Title Track.
  • Their cover of Big Star's "Blue Moon", especially when played live.
• Tear Jerker: Several songs on Stars on ESP can be this for their wistful, nostalgic atmosphere, particularly "Dub Love Letter", "The Sand That Holds the Lakes in Place", and "Movie". The lattermost track especially, as it's essentially the climax of the album and seems to be about a young person's first heartbreak, ending with a mournful guitar solo.
  • "Vanilia" on Eclipse. The instrumental almost sounds like something from a Disney musical, while the lyrics are a beautiful description of grief.
    "Suddenly you've lost your goal
    Swimming slow in circles now
    Your eyes have closed, your eyes have closed
    I can't look at the world without you in it"
  • "Darker Than Blue" is another example from the same album. With its delicate instrumentation floating over a low Drone of Dread and lyrics seeming to describe a loss of innocence, it counts as an unusually dark and despairing song by this band's standards.
  • "Maybe" on Last Night is an example of a happy Tear Jerker, being a hopeful song about the rekindling of an old relationship.
• Vindicated by History: Last Night was met with disinterest by fans when it came out in 2002, as it was a pretty stark departure from the band's earlier material, but more recently it's come to be regarded as a very strong album in its own right.