Anberlin - Cities
http://www.punkbands.com/reviews.php?id=733

Rating:

Released: 2007-02-20
Label: Tooth & Nail Records

One of the hardest things to do as a musician is to begin and end an album well. Hell, it can be a bitch just trying to begin and end a song well, let alone a whole record! If there’s one thing I can say about Anberlin’s third release, Cities, it’s that they got the beginning and ending right. The rest, though, is where it gets a little hazy. Stephen Christian and Co. have returned with a record that is fantastic in some parts and a frustrating underachievement in others.

The album begins with of those “ambient” intro tracks that can be ohh so annoying but, in the case of Cities, the track actually acts as a great catalyst for the tour de force that is the first song, “Godspeed.” This song contains everything about Anberlin that I love; powerful, driving guitars and drums, amazing vocal work by Christian, and a catchy as hell chorus. And make no mistake about it, the vocals are what make this record. Christian has one of the most easily recognizable voices in rock today and his tone and delivery help set this band apart from many of its contemporaries. Second track, “Adelaide,” delivers another addictive chorus which will run circles in your head until late spring if you’re not careful. The final track, “Fin,” also plays its part well as a set closer, complete with a children’s choir and a fantastic build up and fade to finish the record off.

The downfalls, though, lie in two major factors, both guitar driven; the underutilization of melodic lead parts to help counter and balance Christian’s melodies and the poor use of acoustic guitar. Luckily, Christian’s powerful voice is able to save all of these tracks from being a waste of time but he can’t be relied on completely; at some point, the rest of the band must be held accountable. For instance, the acoustic bridge in “A Whisper & a Clamour,” feels awkward, as does the track which follows, the almost completely acoustic, “The Unwinding Cable Car.” I’m all for the band expanding their sound and it’s not as if I don’t like the fact that these songs put Christian even more at the forefront but this is a band, right? You simply can not expect your singer to carry all the weight all the time. “Hello Alone,” would be an awesome tune if the opening guitar riff didn’t sound like it was lifted straight from Oasis’ “Morning Glory.” These are the kind of complaints that seem to just keep popping up when I listen to Cities.

In the end, your enjoyment of Anberlin’s third release will probably be based on your appreciation for Stephen Christian’s voice and vocals. The music has its moments but tends to simply act as a stage for Stephen to perform on. I had incredibly high hopes for this album and, in some ways, it delivers but a lot of parts on this record are weak. It’s a good thing these guys have such a unique and interesting singer because they would have never made it this far without him.
Reviewed by: Ian Lashbrook



Interview with: Anberlin on February 20th, 2007
http://www.punkbands.com/interviews.php?id=241

an you tell us about current music scene in Florida where you are based at?

right now the scene is in a growing phase, we have had a lot of early
indie bands come out of here (further seems forever/dashboard
confessional) and the new breed off indie bands have now taken off.
copeland, underoath, and anberlin being the second generation, but i
know that what is to come is going to be much much better.
its growing pretty big now and i think its only going to get bigger
because of all the local bands coming up.


For me, Florida is a place where various kinds of music come from such
as metal, death metal, emo, etc. How is Florida important for you as a
birthplace for anberlin?

i think our area was really important. we come from a jejune little
town where the only option for us was either a 24 hour cafe' or
playing music. i dont think florida as a whole is "known" for music
like new york or LA, so my background in music as extensive as i would
have wanted it to be.

i think its time florida finally caught up, for years we were left
barren in music by the likes of backstreet boys and creed emerging
from our area, and that really set us back. but because of the little
bands we were in we began to spread interest throughout the area. soon
that grew into more and more people picking up instruments and
beginning their own projects.
florida is different because we are so isolated, only one out of the
last 15 major market tours that we have done has come to florida
because it is such an investment of time on a bands part. bands
typically play atlanta and instead of driving 8-10 hours south to play
tampa or orlando they bypass us and head for the southern states or
texas. but as the momentum from small bands began to pick up, and the
likes of new found glory, yellowcard, and dashboard emerged, people
began to see the central florida markets as not only profitable but
worthwhile because of the immense ammount of excitable fans.

Can you briefly go over as to how anberlin got to form in such a place?

three and a half years ago the 4 of us came together out of the ashes
of local bands and decided that we wanted to pursue our dreams and
passions and pursued music full time. i was still in college and we
went to atlanta, georgia and recorded our demo with matt goldman. we
shipped it off to various labels and got amazing response. we assessed
all the contracts offered and realized tooth and nail gave us the
biggest opportunity and fighting chance.


Congratulations for your new album after two years! I could easily
tell how amazing this album is just when I listen to the first song
"Godspeed" where the melody and the thrill fuse other. Can you please
tell us how you feel about this record?

CITIES should be out world wide on february 26th, 2007. there is
definetly a new approach to this record as this will be the most
intropective and autobiographical album we have ever put out. the
music and lyrics set a darker tone than our previous album without
loosing the same pop/rock anberlin sound everyone knows. i guarentee
that this will be the best anberlin record to date, i am sure of it.


I think it will differ by each album, but did you set the goal when
you producint "Cities"? Do you set a certain goal every time you
produce the record?

I think every band would want to believe that the current record they
are working on is better than the last. we did not come in with one
specific goal, but clearly wanted to take cities to new heights, which
i think we acomplished! the goal in writing the songs is to create the
best songs that we possibly can which is the most important part of
the recording process, the goals of production is simply to clean up
and adding to.

How did you come up with the album title "Cities"? Does it come from a
song(s) in the album?

on the first record i realize in retrospect that we were naive,
blueprints if taken into a literary since could be compared to man vs.
nature. we were discovering who we were, and who we wanted to become,
and the whole world conspired to help us become who and what we are
today.

on our second record we realized that we were interwoven with our
surroundings, relationships in our lives took precedent, it was our
friends and family that were the focus of our lives. we also learned
the downside as well, that people hurt us, turned their back on us,
and used us for personal gain. in essence us vs. man.

the third record takes on the ominous and daunting task of
introspection. the city represents the individuality and the pursuit
of life, and this is the most autobiographical album of my career. man
vs. self. the city represents ones own self, to the fearless it looks
conquerable but to the timid and fearful it looks unobtainable.
when one thinks of the word city they never look at their own
surroundings but immediately their mind takes them to something
greater than themselves, a boundless new york city, or a historic and
mysterious london or paris by chance. each task in ones own life,
whether it to follow ones passion or pursue an idea, can be viewed in
one of two ways. it can be seen as a valiant persons attempt to pursue
the very element and core of himself, to fight with all his might to
overcome any obstacle to obtain his potential in this vapor of a life;
or it can be seen as an overwhelming and detouring series of events
that look much to unpropitious to even strive for or pursue.
imagine the pursuit and lust for life as a city, (much like the world
itself there are thousands of beautiful cities, from the finesse of
madrid to the architecture of tokyo) when life presents itself give
yourself to it. follow your intermost draw, know thyself, learn
thyself, we and life are but cities.


What do you want to convey as anberlin through this album?

i want to prove that we are more than a few sugar pop songs and a
distinquishing riff or two, i want to be known for our writing style,
live show, and lyrics & meaning. i think we are ready to take anberlin
as a whole to the next level, wherever and whatever that might be.


The artwork had changed from previous works and became more abstract
design. Does this imply some contents of the album?

yes for sure. we have tried to keep the black/white theme for all
three albums, but the lyrics and songs demand something more. we
wanted to progress and make sure that this album is different then the
previous 2, that is why we have more abstract of a cover and the
tittle is considerably shorter than the other two records.

I think this album bring about a visual effect by having short
instrument tracks on the first and the last track. Why did you make
this album movie-like?

i want to look at this album like an independent movie. each song is a
different scene, even in a movie you would hate to watch the same
scene over and over again and much like our album each song is unique
and different from any other on the record. some may view this as
schizophrenic but i call it planned and organized chaos.



I heard you will be doing some massive touring from February. How long
will that last?

well the tour starts on feb 20 and goes till april 6, then we have a
few days off and head to Canada. Then when we get back it is rumored
that we are heading to Japan, Singapore, Australia, & New Zealand; who
knows after that, but we want to stay out on the road as MUCH as
possible to promote and perform cities.

Have you played any songs off of your new album at live show? If so,
which ones?
we have only played hello alone live on our last two tours but are so
very excited to start playing the new songs live. i never liked it
when bands would play all new stuff and alienate their old songs, so
we are NOT going to do that, but for sure we are really excited to
play the new stuff.

Are there any songs that changed its nuance or a meaning to the band
by continuous playing at live sets, regardless of the old and new
songs?

paperthin hymn used to hit me so hard, especially when we played it
live, but after singing it night after night for almost 2 years it
lost its meaning, which is sad. but it seems the fans that come every
night still love it, and they are who matters.

What is the significance for a touring band anberlin to release new
works continuously?

well releaseing new works keeps your band fresh in peoples minds; and
the world is changing and cultures evolving and so must a band. i
would not be happy if i toured the rest of my life on our first
record. i love that we can add new songs and new stage shows every
other year.

What does your band name mean?

none of us are married, or have any children, but one day in the
future i want to name my daughter anberlin. i don't think that i can
name her that now, because she would always assume that i named her
after the band.