Get your boom box ready John Cusack, Say Anything has a new album out. For those of you who had not heard of this indie-punk band from Los Angeles, one listen of 2006’s Alive With The Glory of Love should bring you back.
Does the new album Anarchy, My Dear, sound as the name would suggest?
Burn A Miracle begins with simple claps, which give way to a classic Say Anything sound. Lead singer Max Bemis comes in bitter as ever. Just the way the guitars sound and the way the "Burn America" message rings throughout the song, it seems to really remind me of Rise Against.
Nights Song shows the band is done some real maturing. It actually has lyrics! Not to say that they didn’t have lyrics before these just seem more well thought out then an average pop song. With the very puzzling open line of: “Stumble onto the pavement; they’re strapped tight to bed, they’ve got a fetish for sheep, but I’ve got Randy Newman in my head. With a blistering guitar solo Say Anything shows are not just a one trick pony.
Admit it was a very good song before so it was fairly excited to see Admit It Again which is sort of a sequel to the track. Both are nearly spoken word and express a general fuck you to everyone. It’s an ongoing critique against hipsters and pop-culture. It’s a pretty amusing listen.
Peace Out is like something completely different than the first half of the album. It starts off with just a mandolin so it sounds like the history lesson mixed with maybe a Dashboard Confessional album. I’m pretty impressed that they used sound like this, it sounds really strange to hear classical acoustic instruments with the voice you’re used to hearing screaming. It shows real growth from the band.
I find it really strange that the album seems to have two different sounds. The first half seems to have very heavy electric guitars and just in angrier sound in general. The second half is sort of the poppy side of Say Anything. You could get this to appeal to a wide audience or play it on many different radio stations, but for me the contrast between going from the track Say Anything to the track Overbiter, is sort of a joke. I enjoy the louder side of Say Anything so I was disappointed by that second half with the exception of, The Steven Hawking.
6/10
Take Away Thought: It has a few good tracks, and shows the band is really growing and evolving. I really like the sound on Peace Out, and the first half of the album I do know that Say Anything has always had some pop songs, they just seemed to hit me the wrong way after such an energetic start to the album.
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