NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

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 r...

In another life, we would have a light, optimistic Anberlin . This version of the band would have followed up their bright-eyed debut Blueprints for the Black Market with an upbeat pop-rock album about the gender divide, high school crushes, and traveling the world. But the band chose to go in a hard rock sound for their sophomore album, Never Take Friendship Personal , in part because of some of the conflicts the band had with guitarist Joey Bruce , whom they kicked out before the record. The hard rock album with grittier lyrics didn’t completely kill Anberlin’s pop-punk sentiments with songs like “ A Lay Late ” and “ Time and Confusion ” becoming fan favorites.   OH, THEY LOVE THESE AMERICAN BOYS. Anberlin’s third album, Cities , took an even darker tone than their sophomore record. The intense album had the pop-rock moments of “ Adelaide ” and “ Dismantle.Repair. ” But the serious tone of the album as a whole left no room for the carefree moments on the previous albums. Lead si...

Anberlin has been accused of being a band that listeners can identify by every song. I never thought that this criticism was fair because the band has a range of songs of different tempos and tones.  The band did, however, seem to follow an album formula, particularly in their earlier work. But in  2022, the band decided to release an EP rather than a full album. The five songs on Silverline were a little more experimental for the band than their previous work. The electronic and post-hardcore elements the band developed after their breakup were best exemplified in the singles “ Two Graves ” and “ Circles .” Even with the shock of the new Anberlin sound, I was confused when I heard the lead single from Convinced , the 2023 follow-up to Silverline. Rather than a zippy guitar riff from Joseph Milligan and Stephen Christian ’s clear vocals, “ Lacerate ” starts a little slower than many Anberlin album openers with an ambient synth. SLOW FADE, SLOW FEIGN. The first voice we hea...

It was Superbowl Sunday of 2005 when I bought Anberlin ’s Never Take Friendship Personal .  It was the perfect album for high school. The band’s style took a turn on their sophomore album from a classic or '90s rock sound to a more emotional, mid-2000s sound. The band would redefine themselves with this album, becoming a lesser-known emo staple. Stephen Christian ’s vocals meeting Joseph Milligan ’s riffs, Deon Rexroat ’s heavy bass, and Nathan Young ’s reliance on the cymbals make this one of the band’s heaviest records. The band released two recordings of this song on two different albums and many fans debate which one is better. THIS WAS OVER BEFORE IT EVER BEGAN.   The original version of "The Feel Good Drag" feels grungier and Stephen’s scream on the bridge was perfectly aligned with the musical trends of the day. The New Surrender version , renamed "Feel Good Drag," beefs up t he guitar intro, and the solo has a quite satisfying bend.   However, having ...

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 ...

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 ...

  When recording their debut record Blueprints for the Black Market , Anberlin spent time in Seattle writing the lyrics for the album. During their 2020 livestream We Are the Lost Ones , between songs and banter, the band told stories about where they drew inspiration for some of the most beloved tracks on the record. Viewers heard stories about using rhymezone.com to complete “ Cold War Transmissions ,” seeing their producer Aaron Sprinkle play a cover of The Cure ’s “ Lovesong ” at a karaoke night— his arrangement would end up on Blueprints, and a story about an arsonist devastating Seattle at the time of the recording. INNOCENCE DERAILED.  " Glass to the Arson ” is the fifth track on Blueprints for the Black Market. It's certainly not one of Anberlin's most poignant lyrics: it's not a storytelling song and the lyrics never made a deeper connection with me like later Anberlin songs; it's the passion in Stephen Christian 's voice along with the Joseph Mill...