Every year sees a few new bands come along that inspire a whirlwind of buzz and praise based on the sole fact that they possess an intangible mysticism about them that just leaves people somewhat awed and clamoring for more. 2005 saw the Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens rise to prominence on the strength of this principle, and so far 2006 has yielded a few bands that have had a similar effect on me. The Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens mention is probably a misnomer here, because the point I’m trying to make is not that these types of bands are necessarily some of the best in the world (though Arcade Fire and Sufjan certainly are), but they bring something completely unique and refreshing to the table that just gets you excited about what they will do in the future. To this point this year has seen only two bands assuming this role for me, Guillemots and the Cold War Kids (artist profiles here and here, respectively), but Anathallo has just joined those elite ranks as well.
In short, Anathallo defy categorization; genres need not apply. They are just as much a hit with the angsty emo crowd as they are with the elitist indie types, two typically adversarial crowds. In fact, I first heard of Anathallo nearly two years ago on Absolutepunk.net (though I foolishly passed them off as another run-of-the-mill mediocre emo band at the time and neglected to check them out), but it wasn’t until recently that they began popping up on the blogosphere (and loyal reader Matt tipped me off on them) and I finally gave them the attention they deserve. Basically, Anathallo are unlike anything you’ve ever heard. The best way I can describe their music is as sprawling, epic, and highly operatic punk rock, or in other words, the most evolved and otherworldy punk rock you’ve ever heard.
Sounding most often like a more conventional and refined Animal Collective (keep the unusual and constantly-evolving song structures, but lose the shrieks and unintelligible lyrics) with a co-ed acapella group on vocals (ridiculous harmonies), Anathallo also frequently garner comparisons to Sufjan Stevens with their baroque arrangements and lush instrumentation. This eight-piece collective from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan has no single musical equivalent, but instead are an amalgam of genres and styles. Their large size and deep roster (all male with the exception of vocalist Erica) helps to explain their ability to create such an expansive and unique sound, in which elaborate arrangements made up of horns, strings and dramatic percussion sections come standard. With a litter of releases, mostly EPs, already to their name, 2006 sees the release of their masterwork, Floating World, which is a small-scale epic in its unrivaled grandeur. The album has an ambience that flows subtly throughout and gives all the songs a certain mood and feeling, and four of the songs are devoted to telling the story of a Japanese folk tale, “Hanasakajijii”, in four parts, which is explained in the booklet that accompanies the album and goes as follows (thanks to Big Static for the explanation):
Basically, there is this massive drought and famine plagues the country, and this old farmer’s wife is washing her clothes in the river when, lo and behold, a dog standing on a log comes down the river barking, so naturally, as you would expect, she saves it. Anyway, she takes the dog back home to her husband who takes the dog outside with him as he tries to work the land, and the dog starts barking and clawing at the ground, so he joins in and digs too, and finds lots of gold. Then, their greedy neighbor comes along and sees the gold, and then half-inches the dog, but in his garden, the dog just digs up all these nasty things like slugs and bugs and snakes and such, so he kills the dog and burns its body. Then, because it is evidently a magical dog, where he buried the ashes in the ground splits open and all this wind comes out and the ashes start attacking the neighbor, so the farmer comes and saves him by scooping the ash out the ground, and then after accidentally spilling some ash, notices that it makes plant life grow, so he starts sprinkling it everywhere (Big Static).
There you have it, more or less. My favorite song on the album is the fourth and final part of the story, “Great Wind, More Ash”, which is absolutely breathtaking in its swelling beauty and is right now firmly entrenched in my top five favorite songs of 2006. Lead singer Matt Joynt possesses an immensely powerful voice able to convey a full spectrum of emotions, and “Great Wind, More Ash” exemplifies the power of his voice in its finest form. Floating World is not an album of tracks meant to be listened to individually, rather it is a listening experience meant to be heard as a whole. The album flows flawlessly and each song moves seemlessly into the next, creating an operatic listening experience fitting for an ornate and fanciful theater. Thus, I’ve chosen to post “Great Wind, More Ash” along with “The Angry Neighbor”, the song which immediately follows it on the album, to give you an example of how the song flows seemlessly from one into another. Finally, I’m also making “Hoodwink” available for download, as it’s fantastic as well and, though it’s not a part of the four-song Japanese folktale series, is the closest thing you’ll find to conventional song structuring on Floating World.
What I’m most excited about is the fact that Anathallo and Page France (who I just profiled here) will be teaming up to release a collaborative EP at some point later this year, which is, suffice it to say, an incredibly exciting pairing. Though details on this release are sparse, apparently it’s not a formal split, as both bands collaborated and worked together to record two songs, but the prospect of such a holy union of up-and-coming indie rock bands alone is enough to get a significant fire burning betwixt my loins. Please do not let the punk/emo stigma deter you from giving Anathallo a chance, you’ll find it’s misleading and doesn’t do the band justice. I’m very interested in what people think of this group, so let me know in the comments. Lastly, please please support the band and buy the album, which you can do here, as this is an album meant to be listened to in its entirety in order for one to truly expeirence the gravity and expanse of this music.
UPDATE: Coincidentally, this morning saw the release of Floating World in the iTunes Music Store, despite the fact that the album’s been out since February, so you may now go here to buy it from iTunes as well.
MP3s:
“Hanasakajijii Four: A Great Wind, More Ash” - Anathallo [highly recommended]
“Hanasakajijii One: The Angry Neighbor” - Anathallo
“Hoodwink” - Anathallo
To preface: Yes, I know Stereogum just posted this, but I’ve had this post written for two days (I just wanted to give Anathallo some time at the top of the page) and I feel like I might as well still post it. Plus, there’s some sweet mash up goodness included here.
