What the hell happened to Annuals? They used to be a band with gargantuan potential, a band that Pitchfork described as being a perfect combination of Animal Collective, Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. Be He Me was a tremendous debut, a very organic and authentic piece of music from a band with little expectations that had yet to prove anything to anyone. It's probably more complicated than this, but I guess signing to a major label wasn't the best choice. They went from creating anthemic art rock to (literally) adult contemporary swill. It's beyond mind boggling, and thus it is not even worth trying to put into words.
Such Fun was a big slap in the face of dedicated fans, and since then I've been hoping their oddball singer would pull his head out of his ass as realize the mistakes they made. Today the band released a new song, "The Giving Tree," that at the very least puts a hold on Annuals' slow death march towards the ripped out pages of music's history book.
[MP3] Annuals - The Giving Tree
While "The Giving Tree" would have a hard time bumping anything off of Be He Me, it would have been a welcome addition to last year's Such Fun. Here Annuals paints a vibrant contrast, one that holds up glitchy electric percussion against a rather natural sonic environment fleshed out with bending strings and a singalong chorus. Singer Adam Baker has thankfully toned down his decidedly emo vocal tendencies (which can really make or break a band these days), so instead of coming across as a troubled teen whining about prepubescent minutia he allows listeners to really listen without rolling their eyes and throwing up in their mouths. Ok I'm being a little hypebolic, but seriously toning down the heavy breathing and pained yelping is probably the best thing Annuals can do for their music.
Long story short, "The Giving Tree" is a good reason not to give up on Annuals just yet. It's sad that it has come down to that, but c'est la vie.
8 comments:
I think this is pretty good. I tend to like Annuals a lot though.
however disappointed you were with Such Fun or however absent you believe annuals to be, if you get a chance to see them live, they're still killing it. saw them in chapel hill some months ago and they've improved greatly since bonnaroo a couple years ago (and that show was great).
just a little insight.
i love this music!!! it's great!
it is impossible for annuals to fail. especially live.
why no love for sunfold? kenny's project. annuals actually started out as a SIDE project from sunfold, & i assure you, sunfold is twice as good as annuals.
sunfold is actually barely decent compared to the complexity and creativity of sound offered by annuals. it almost makes me like annuals less. almost. Love the new song.
I love Such Fun. It's been one of my most listened to albums still from last year.
Annuals and Sunfold are the same band changed around and pretty much equally amazing.
I love that they essentially put out an extra record as Sunfold...
The best of both worlds!
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