On February 1, 2005, Anberlin released their sophomore record, Never Take Friendship Personal. I started listening to Anberlin since Blueprints for the Black Market, which had been one of my favorite records when it was released. I bought the record on February 6th, Super Bowl Sunday. My sister and I stopped by the Family Christian bookstore on a shopping trip before watching the game with our youth group. I listened to the album before buying it, noticing how much more aggressive NTFP was compared to its predecessor, almost as if the band that had created BFTBM had disappeared. It was an emo record and I was junior in high school, driving my first car. It's not a classic for everyone, but it was the right record for that time, and when I listen to it, I'm transformed back to 2005.
1. "Never Take Friendship Personal." This is the only occasion that Anberlin has named a record after a song. The song begins with aggressive guitars before launching into a classic Joesph Milligan guitar arpeggio. The track contains uncredited unclean vocals from Ryan Clark, who also designed album's artwork. Anberlin talked about how this song, and partially this album, were inspired by the ending of a friendship in the band. Anberlin's former rhythm guitarist, Joey Bruce, didn't mesh with the band mainly for his partying lifestyle on tour, which affected both the band's "Christians in a band" and their ability to play songs with an unreliable guitarist. But the song certainly transcends band life and is perfect for when fighting with a friend.
2. "Paperthin Hymn." The second track is an Aaron Sprinkle technical masterpiece in terms of how all the tones are processed to make an ultra modern sounding rock song. It's one of my best examples of how a minor key can simultaneously be heartbreakingly sad and aggressive. The song is about the loss of guitarist Joesph Milligan's sister to cancer. Lead singer Stephen Christian also lost his grandmother around the time of writing the song. It's a song about the grieving process when life is busy. In Anberlin's case, chasing the dream of being professional musicians while life and death happen. It's a song about the torn feeling about being on the road and missing out on major events. I'm getting teary. I'll stop.
3. "Stationary Stationery" is one of the most skippable tracks on the record. During their livestream Tear Us Apart, Stephen Christian said, "We don't know why we put this song here. We literally could have picked any other song and it would have been a better choice." This song is one of the least mature songs on the record, but if it wasn't after "Paperthin Hymn," it would have been okay. 4. (The Symphony of) "Blasé." This is another skippable track for me. Originally titled "Amsterdam," the mellow track has to do with breaking up with someone.
5. "A Day Late." Today's track takes a worldlier approach than the previous track, in which the speaker calls out to God to calm his heart after a break up. In "Day Late," the speaker entertains breaking up his relationship after an unrequited love pops back into his life. It's tricky to read the tone of the song. Is it sarcastic or is it the prequel to "The Feel Good Drag?" 6. "The Runaways" takes the album back to high school. It's about being ambiguous relationships that end in the "friend zone."
7. "Time and Confusion" is another reason why Never Take Friendship Personal isn't a perfect album, but it might make a great case for being a perfect Emo album. An Emo album should cause the listeners to feel a range of emotions, and "Time and Confusion" is a sudden climb on the emotional roller coaster after "The Runaways." "Time and Confusion" is a beautiful song about working hard to achieve your dreams with your best friends.
8. "The Feel Good Drag" was the track convinced me to buy Never Take Friendship Personal. The grungy guitars, the purity culture lyrics, the scream on the bridge--this encapsulated high school and all that was cool. It was storytelling minus a few incriminating details. There's been debate whether or not New Surrender version of "Feel Good Drag" is better or if it was even necessary. I thought "Dismantle.Repair." should have been the band's introduction to radio, but the guitar solo on New Surrender's version was worth having in the universe. But "The Feel Good Drag" on NTFP is a perfect, grungy moment for the record.
9. "Audrey, Start the Revolution!" The lyrics to this track weave Audrey Hepburn, teenage rebellion, and morality into 3:24. It's a subtly Christian song with a neat guitar riff.
10. "A Heavy Hearted Work of Staggering Genius." This instrumental was written by Joseph Milligan and dedicated to his family after the loss of his sister. The title takes its name from the similarly named memoir by Dave Edgers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
11. "Dance, Dance Christa Päffgan." The album closer references 1960s-'80s culture, especially examining the life of the German singer Nico, born Christa Päffgan. One Christian reviewer said that this song left the album feeling spiritually dry. I think that's the point. Never Take Friendship Personal flirts with spirituality, but mostly it's a secular record. "Dance, Dance" is a cautionary tale of a rock 'n' roll lifestyle that has swallowed rock stars since Mozart died at the age of 35 in 1791. It's a lifestyle Anberlin tried to avoid with firing Joey Bruce. It's what caused Stephen Christian to hire his pastor as the band's tour manager. And certainly this song needs it's own post.
Comments
Post a Comment