“Asking” by Anberlin, Friday, September 6, 2024
Last month was the first month that I didn’t include an Anberlin song since I started my blog. It also happens to be the month that the band released their eighth studio album, Vega. These facts are related, though my exclusion of Anberlin last month was more of a symptom of the underlying problem than a deliberate exclusion. Anberlin is still my favorite, and skipping one month of them still puts them as my most blogged-about artist. I’ve talked about the choices they’ve made over the years from the break-up to the reunion to the lockdown livestreams to the new music to the indefinite hiatus of frontman Stephen Christian and the joining of Memphis May Fire’s frontman Matty Mullins. Now the band has entered their Vega era--a chaotic time that guitarist Christian McAlhaney has said in multiple interviews that the band is “making it up as they go.”
I WANT TO BE THE QUIET IN STORMS I SILVERLINE. On the Church Jams Now! Podcast in 2022, the hosts mostly “flopped” Silverline, the EP that spearheaded what would become the Vega era. I’m glad that Anberlin’s latest project exists. I think that many of the songs are great individually. I would have given anything for the hope that Vega could exist when I was dealing with a very hard 2014 and my favorite band also decided to break up. I also admire that Anberlin seems to be more of a DIY band these days. This aspect has improved their music videos. Their album art, however, seems to lack the classic Ryan Clark look that we expect from an Anberlin album. The post-Tooth & Nail Records, Equal Vision Records period of Anberlin seems to be AI-generated artwork. The band seems personally involved rather than an expensive team making Anberlin a brand. Silverline and Convinced featured ethereal forms on the cover, but Vega looks like a pair of earrings from Clairs at first glance. Looking closer it could be two stars or two electrons. Anberlin hasn’t always been a visually-driven band. Their first music video “Readyfuels” will testify to that.
AM I ASKING TOO MUCH? The problem with Silverline was ultimately a lack of focus that all of Anberlin’s albums contained in their discography. Every album had a cohesive sound, often following a formula modeled in their early works. Silverline as the first part of a two-part EP project lacked a formula and ultimately lacked cohesion. The band diverged at hard rock--heavier than most of their discography-- and alternative pop. All of these elements had been bread-crumbed throughout their discography, but they seemed to have worked harder in the past to make seemingly contradictory sounds mix together well. For example, Devotion was a compilation of Vital, B-sides, and experimental new tracks, but they sell the concept by mixing the songs together in a flowing progression. Silverline, Convinced, and Vega don’t flow, and maybe they need more songs on the EPs and the LP to lead the listener on that journey. What made me the most disappointed was the lack of original content Vega contained. Just three more songs could have made the album both cohesive and exciting for longtime fans who would be eager to see where the ten songs fit into the full record. What may have been better, though, is EP-only tracks. As Vega took shape, the final tracks “Body Language,” “Asking,” and “Nothing More” felt tacked on at the end. Vega was an album that was screaming to be heavy, but the band didn’t want to waste the calmer moments. I wish that band had given us more content, using their two EPs as source material. But I think I’m asking too much.
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