“Nothing Lost” by Anberlin, Monday, July 3, 2023

Last summer, Anberlin released their hiatus-breaking EP, Silverline. The five-song EP was written during the band's time off due to the pandemic when they had planned to return to touring. But like many touring bands out of work, Anberlin decided to take to the Internet and started a livestream session, eventually deciding to perform every one of their albums live. With all the nostalgia of revisiting the classic seven albums, many listeners thought that their first release back would be influenced by their older work; perhaps an album track that the band never performed much.

I'LL STILL LOVE YOU TILL MY VERY COFFIN DROPS. Last month, I made a case that Silverline was the least Anberlin-sounding spot in the band's discography, but I would like to counter that argument today by looking at the latter-part of the band's career that makes Silverline make sense. Because if we don't do that, the band's most recent release, last Friday's EP Convinced, of which Stephen Christian referenced last year on Lead Singer Syndrome as the second part of Silverline. One of the biggest criticisms of Silverline is that it lacks cohesion and that styles of each song are too different. But compared to Convinced, Silverline makes more sense in the Anberlin canon, especially looking at Devotion and Lowborn as the jumping off point and considering the last two Anchor & Braille records for reference. I want to say that today's song, "Nothing Lost," is the thread that keeps Silverline from unravelling. Starting with a dirty bass line and indistinguishable lo-fi voice that sounds like "fuck up" --a little off brand for Anberlin's recordings in the past, the song then moves into a Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place-styled mysterious guitar riff and autotune vocals on Stephen's vocals.  The song's chorus is an Anberlin-cannon banger that could be anywhere from Never Take Friendship Personal to New Surrender. The anthemic guitars and gang vocals actually make the song one of the least-processed sounding tracks on the record. 

WE DIDN'T COME THIS FAR TO ONLY COME THIS FAR. Elsewhere on the record, after sitting with it for while, listeners might start make connections. "Two Graves" and "Dissenter"; "Circles" and "Armageddon"; "Body Language" and "Asking" and "IJSW" make the Silverline make sense. Some critics and listeners accuse Anberlin of following an album format, which partially true for their seven LPs. Silverline and Convinced still feel like they are following the formula, but switching up their sound. The band which used keys minimally on their first five records, now fully embraces the electronic sound, and not just on the slow songs. The band that was known to uses post hardcore as an attention-grabbing effect, now leans into it. Nothing about the band's formula seems sacred on Silverline and much less on Convinced--but that's for another month. The lyrics of "Nothing Lost" are a bit confusing, especially given Stephen Christian's statements about his faith from The Bad Christian Podcast, various interviews, and his sermons as a music pastor over the last half decade. While not explicitly stated like in Lowborn, the details about the band's re-formation seem to lie in the lyrics of Silverline and Convinced.  Today's song seems to be about the band. Stephen seems to be reflecting on several things. First referencing the "fallen woman" trope of "The Feel Good Drag," the speaker of the song seems to be dealing with the shame of that comes after fornication. Maybe this is a stretch, but just as Stephen has talked about his regret of having sex before marriage, he also talked about feeling purposeless with the band, particularly when their success plateaued.The second part seems to be addressing Stephen's wife, Julia. He's trying to convince her that his love for her and his love for the band are not conflicting. Finally, back with the band, Stephen yells, "we didn't come this far to only come this far." In the chorus he tells them not to "go gently down the right path, wrong road." This phrase stuck with me from first hearing it, and probably Stephen would have a sermon illustration to explain it. I wonder if this was a dig at the music industry in the '00s and '10s that started upstreaming indie acts, but in order for those acts to stick around they had to compromise what the band was in order stay relevant? And would the indie route that bands are taking these days be the right path on the right road? There certainly is a lot to analyze with the new Anberlin EPs, but I think "Nothing Lost" might be a key into understanding why the band is back.

Read “Nothing Lost” by Anberlin on Genius.