“High Stakes” by Anberlin, Thursday, December 5, 2024

In August, Anberlin announced that they had “slowly entered the Vega era,” in the song “Seven,” one of the two new tracks on the band’s eighth studio album. Vega functioned more as a compilation of two EPs released in the two prior years. On October 18, though, a celebration for Anberlin’s new album seemed to be finished as the band released the post-album single “High Stakes.” Like “Walk Alone” and “Seven,” “High Stakes” featured vocals from Matty Mullins rather than Stephen Christian. Mullins took to social media, explaining the background to Anberlin’s latest single, saying that he was listening to old files for songs that were never recorded. Mullins explains that he came to the band as a fan more than a professional singer and colleague, despite his band Memphis May Fire’s success outside of Anberlin’s clear pop-punk influence. With the three Mullins tracks in Anberlin’s canon, it’s time to start to prepare ourselves for the possibility that Stephen Christian may not return and that Mullins may not only be the band’s vocalist but lyricist. 

NEVER BEEN THE ONE TO FOLD AND GIVE UP A GAME. “High Stakes” feels like a lost song from Lost Songs. I wouldn’t be surprised if the riff originated between Never Take Friendship Personal or Cities. Besides Matty Mullins’ vocals, the song doesn’t sound particularly tied to one era of Anberlin. It’s a solid B-side in the band’s catalog, but it’s not all that special. Unlike the band’s recent releases, the song doesn’t push the band sonically—heavier, electronically, poppier. It’s business as usual for Joseph Milligan on the guitar. No special lead guitar parts. The lyrics are a clever use of card game clichés, almost delivered in classic Relient K fashion. Delivered with seemingly half-hearted anger, the “house of cards” the lyrics attempt to build fails to lay flat on the rickety card table of substance. Stephen Christian’s lyrics also have fallen flat like “High Stakes” at times. But classic Anberlin is known for its lyrics. Listeners see that “One last glance from a taxicab” in “DISMANTLE.REPAIR.” The stakes in today’s song don’t feel real because the opponent doesn’t feel rounded. It’s defeatist, and the speaker is left defeated, not really learning anything from the game other than to trust no one. He says “When love’s a game, bet on betrayal.” It’s like we haven’t learned anything since the sophomoric Never Take Friendship Personal. 

CALLED YOUR BLUFF, YOU DOUBLED DOWN. Discussing “High Stakes” only as a song is pretty straightforward. The song’s video, though, adds more to the discussion of who Anberlin is today. Last month, I talked about the music video for “Dead American,” which was the beginning of the band’s low-production DIY videos. Before “Dead American,” Anberlin's videos were mostly performance-based and quite serious. Not only in their music videos, the band’s shows also had a serious tone. Lead singer Stephen Christian and occasionally guitarist Christian McAlhaney addressed the crowd before spending most of the time playing music. But during the pandemic, the band started changing their image. Stephen was no longer the only voice speaking for the band, with every member, except bassist Deon Rexroat, miked and commenting on each song. Deon did try to contribute to the conversation without a mic, which led to some funny band and fan interactions. The lockdown concerts shed the clean-cut youth-group-approved version of the band. A few f-bombs, drinking, smoking, and a few allusions to liberal politics seemed off-brand from the band’s prime. The band’s three music videos with Stephen Christian in the Vega era were a return to seriousness for the band, but the first video with Matty Mullins, “Walk Alone,” is a comedic video about auditions for a new lead singer. “High Stakes,” while not plot-driven like “Walk Alone,” the video is more comedic than many of the band’s other videos. The video features the band members in various scenes performing and joking together. The plot culminates in the band and their crew learning a silly dance as if they have become a boy band. Watching the video closely, viewers can see that the beginning credits imitate a movie, listing Jacob Moniz as the producer and the band’s drummer Nate Young and Moniz as the directors. There’s also an “R” rating for the video, which at first seems to be to create a gritty homage to Vegas crime films. It turns out, at a close viewing of the video, the R-rating isn’t completely nominal. In the scene where the band is standing on the bleachers, Nate’s sweatpants have enough “Fuck You”s to exceed a PG-13 rating. While this wardrobe issue can be edited for broadcast on music video channels, it does make me wonder about Anberlin’s future inclusion in the Christian Rock market. While several Christian Rock bands have started including profanity in their songs and their live shows, it seems that Anberlin is rebranding. Stephen Christian had said that he didn’t know if all the members of Anberlin were believers, yet he kept the band grounded in their clean-cut image. He’s said in multiple interviews that he has had regrets about not pastoring his own band. Stephen inviting Mullins into the band seemed to be a way to keep a spiritual element in the band. Mullins is an outspoken Christian and, like Stephen, Mullins has released worship albums. Stakes are high for this new era of Anberlin and Spotify numbers are down from two years ago. But it won’t be until the next era that we will see what the band does with Mullins’ tenure. 

 Read the lyrics on Genius.