Annuals: Be He Me - Album Review

There is something refreshingly original, nostalgic and artistic to everything when embarking on the Annuals journey. This is a grown-up and refreshing album from the 6-piece band of North Carolina. And what's amazing is that no one in the band is over 22 years old.

The album opens with Brother, crickets in the background before a slow gentle guitar creeping in with violins before blasting into an energetic frenzy with all sorts of synthesizer noises coming in. A great introduction.

I've never been a fan of what is referred to as "experimental" or electronic beeps and strange computer whines infiltrating my headphones. However, with the Annuals, it fits in perfectly.

"The Annuals infuse their music with an array of intense emotions" per their website and I couldn't agree more. You get the whole gamut in this album.

Dry Clothes is a brilliant showcase for the variety you are to enjoy as the album progresses. From Adam Baker's friendly singing to shouts of glee, screams and back to the sweet slower version. And about 3 or 4 rhythm changes along the way.

BROTHER



I was presented with this album by someone who said "As far as quality of music is concerned, they are as good as Arcade Fire ". My first impression was to disagree. However, having now listened numerous times, I have found myself enjoying it just as much. Some reviews have compared their sound with the Montrealers, but I feel they are very different. With the Annuals you get a less frenetic and more calm side before having to "ride the storm".

There is no weak track on the album. Each one compliments each other. My favourite is Complete, or Completing with it's introductory piano, brilliant hoof-like woodblock percussion and the chorus:

"Silence all the clocks tonight
It's show time, with drinks to spill
Hear my mouth, I've got the sounds
to send you back home with peace of mind"

Ida, My shows the slower, laid back side of Adam's voice, before a flurry of electro-beats, rhythmical blurps and beeps hit in creating two completely different halves of the song.

Father, the most touching and melancholy song of the album is about a father losing a child asking:

"What debt has my boy to pay?
What crime has been to deserve this fate?
Lord, What debt has my boy to pay?"

I could go on. In fact there is so much put into this album that I could dissect each song at length, but I'll leave that to you.

As screamed at the beginning of Carry Around:
"I got magic in my head, magic up my nose, magic coming out my fingers, magic crying out my eyes. I've got magic everywhere I fucking look. I can't fight it either, I wish I could." I sure hope that magic returns and will look forward to their next instalment.

Overall, a brilliant album for those of us who are looking for something slightly different, unique and emotional.



Track listing:
1. Brother
2. Dry Clothes
3. Complete, or Completing
4. Carry Around
5. Chase You Off
6. Bleary-Eyed
7. Fair
8. Bull, and the Goat
9. Mama
10. Ida, My
11. Father
12. Sway

Annuals website: www.annualsmusic.com/
Myspace Page: www.myspace.com/annuals
Free song: Bleary Eyed
Other free media: www.annualsmusic.com/audiovideo.php

Blanche: What This Town Needs - EP Review

Husband and wife team Dan and Tracee Miller head up Blanche, a Detroit alternative country rock band. The band have various other activities and interests such as Jack Lawrence's bass playing with the Raconteurs, Dan and Tracee's roles in the movie Walk The Line as Luther Perkins and wife, and Tracee's artwork which sells very well on her website.

Blanche's stated mission is: "To create, maintain and extend throughout the community high standards of musical standards."

From the name, the album cover and the bells outside at the start of the title track, I felt like I was in a cowboy movie. Dan and Tracee Miller then trade intense vocals over pedal steel guitar, banjo, raw guitar sounds, and sparse, driving drumming.

Child Of The Moon is much slower, less in your face track with the eerie pedal steel and banjo strumming making this a walk-home-after-a-long-day type of song.

Someday...


What impresses me most, surely purposely, is their ability to take you back in time. To when things were simpler, and clearer. Everything from their music's artwork, their website, to their sound and lyrics creates this.

The third track is the very harmonious and beautifully versed Scar Beneath The Skin. The most poetic and perfect example of this I feel is this verse:
"Floor board creaking once again
Each morning when your day begins
Brittle branches sprouted leaves
Wind chimes swaying in the breeze."

In order to get the beauty of it, you have to listen to the song. Sorry folks.

The EP finishes with more upbeat and energetic Never Again about love lost and taken for granted and a live version of Someday... which makes we want to see them live.

A good alternative country album which, with more listening, really grows on you.

They have an album due for release soon, which I look forward to.


Blanche website: www.blanchemusic.com/
Myspace Page: www.myspace.com/blanchedetroit