This week has been stuffed with outdated indie discourse about whether or not or not Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros’ 2009 hit “Residence” is the worst track of all time. A clip of the group’s Tiny Desk efficiency has been recirculating on X with many sturdy opinions about “Residence,” the “stomp clap” period, and whether or not “Residence” is “stomp clap.” Now bandleader Alex Ebert (who additionally fronted the dance-rock group Ima Robotic earlier than Edward Sharpe) has weighed in.
“Right here’s how when a track is nice,” Ebert begins the video saying, persevering with:
If the bones are good, if the bones let the track survive context, in the event you pull it out of acoustic guitar, you set a piano there and it really works, it’s a superb track. You pull it out of the piano, you set it on the harp, it’s nonetheless working, you are taking out of the harp, you sing it a capella, it’s nonetheless working, good track.
Now “Residence” has been coated a number of occasions, various things. A few of them are hits, like precise hit songs. Some man takes it from baritone places it in falsetto, , the one which went viral. Edith Whiskers, shoutout to no matter that’s, that went viral. By the way in which we had been the primary to do the stomp and clap fuckin’ people pop factor to the purpose the place the Lumineers, they sought out considered one of our co-producers — he wasn’t truly our co-producer — and had been like, “Hey, try this Edward Sharpe factor for us.” For actual, that’s an actual story. Of Monsters & Males, they bought our album earlier than they ever made an album as a result of our agent was their supervisor and she or he confirmed it to them they usually principally bought so near “Residence” that we nearly sued them. They had been doing Apple commercials and I used to be getting calls saying, “Congratulations.” That’s how carefully folks began doing this.
And by the way in which, “Residence” isn’t a superb recording, it’s only a good track. But it surely not being a superb recording is what I like about “Residence.” It’s like a second. We recorded it on tape, we didn’t even know tips on how to document on tape, it sounds prefer it’s made in some muffled storage. I wished to unfold the porous happenstance incidentalism of Edward Sharpe. As an alternative what I unfold was stomp claps taken and recorded higher, and that’s miserable. However “Residence” is seemingly a superb track.
Within the caption, he added:
It’s a query I’ve requested myself a lot — is residence a superb track? One thing I forgot to say is I lately was requested by my 90-year-old father to play residence at his birthday. He was begging as if his life trusted it so I needed to oblige. There was a piano within the restaurant so I simply performed it like that, entire chords, simply me on the piano in a restaurant at midday. I’ll attempt to discover a recording of it, nevertheless it become nearly my favourite model of the track. In actual fact I preserve considering perhaps I ought to launch a model of it. Anyway, that’s after I made up my thoughts that Residence, the bones of it at the very least, are nice. It’s a superb track.
Nicely, onto the following discourse.
— Father John Misty (@fatherjohnmisty) August 6, 2025
it’s worse
— Father John Misty (@fatherjohnmisty) August 6, 2025
