"We Owe This to Ourselves" by Anberlin, Saturday, January 22, 2022

Dark is the Way, Light Is a Place is a portrait of band stylistically in their element, but there is something lacking. Following Anberlin's major label debut New Surrender, the band worked with legendary rock producer Brendan O'Brien. Critics, fans, and the band didn't like New Surrender. Critics didn't like how the album lacked cohesion. Fans didn't like how Surrender departed from the band's darker, heavier sound on fan favorites Never Take Friendship Personal and Cities. And according to the band's livestream for New Surrender, Paper Tigers, they were so busy touring and promoting their hit "Feel Good Drag," many of the songs on their longest album were neglected live.

I FEEL THE CHANGE IS HERE. Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place returned the band to a darker sound and would have been a more natural follow-up to Cities, but the darkness in the album comes mostly from moody instrumentals, rather than the heaviness of the guitar, bass, and drums. Except for the lead single "Impossible," Dark is probably the least riff-laden Anberlin album, and it made me question what the dynamics in the band were at this time, as Acceptance's Christian McAlhaney joined the band when the band was touring with Cities. McAlhaney contributed to writing on New Surrender; however, the slower, moody guitar parts sound like they could easily have been found on Phantoms. Today's song is the album's opener and it features a repetitive Joseph Milligan opening riff that the guitarist plays through out the song. On Monday, I made a playlist using a line from this song as the title. The original title of this song was "King," named after Martin Luther King, Jr. Today's song asks, what would happen if everyone lived out King's vision of equality?

IT DIDN'T HAVE TO END LIKE THIS. One of the biggest issues I have with this album is the mixing. The instruments never seem to sit right in the mix. A Dark song is quieter than any other Anberlin album, and it seems like listeners don't get a fair shot at what the song has to offer. Elsewhere in the album, lyrics lack inspiration. The album taking its name from Dylan Thomas' existential "Poem on His Birthday," I wish that Stephen Christian would have dug deeper into literature, relationships, or life to offer sage words like in the band's earlier catalogue, rather than the childish threat in "The Art of War": "Because of you, I'll never write another love song." “We Owe This to Ourselves,” though, is a declaration, in the midst of burnout the band experienced on their last record, that Anberlin would put on their best effort, that they would dig into their ‘80 influences—The Smiths, U2, Depeche Mode, that they would dress the part of an '80s post-punk band. Though Dark is my least favorite Anberlin album, I feel it was the Anberlin album the band needed to get out of their system. Dark Is the Way gave Anberlin energy for their follow up, Vital. In that way, this album is an encouragement to me to “fake it till you make it.”

Music Video:

we owe this to ourselves from yes on Vimeo.

Remix from NFS: 

Jimmy Kimmel Live performance:

Read “We Owe This to Ourselves” by Anberlin on Genius

Check out my playlist, If Every Man Became a King, on Spotify.