NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

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 E

In August, Anberlin will release their eighth studio album, Vega . This is probably the least I’ve been excited about an Anberlin release, mainly because most fans have heard most of it already. Vega is a compilation album of the band’s last two years work, the two EPs Silverline and Convinced plus two additional songs, the first of which, “ Walk Alone ,” was released as a single last month. This leaves just one more song, “ Seven ,” for fans to yet to hear, but this is only partially true because the band has played the show at their “Farewell to lead singer Stephen Christian ” show last year, and fans can easily find the live version on YouTube.  IF YOU EVER FEEL YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR. Two years ago, Stephen Christian talked with Shane Told on the Lead Singer Syndrome Podcast that he felt unsure about the current music industry, so the band decided to release their album in two parts. He expressed how he felt that he felt that music listeners wanted singles and shorter forms of m

It was the beginning of a rough year. In January, my favorite band from when I was in high school announced they were breaking up by the end of the year. I was in the middle of a hellish teaching contract in South Korea, and it looked like I could never see Anberlin perform again live. Before disbanding, the band would release their seventh studio album, Lowborn . Of course, the break up didn’t last and Anberlin got back together only four years later to play a reunion show and began touring the year after that. Then in 2022, the band released Silverline , a 5-song EP; another EP, Convinced , last year; and will release their eighth studio record, Vega , on August 2nd, which will be a combination of Silverline and Convinced with two new songs featuring the band's new touring vocalist, Matty Mullins . I FOUND PEACE IN A FOREIGN ATONEMENT.  At the end of 2013, lead singer Stephen Christian told his bandmates that he would give Anberlin a year to say farewell. Christian talks about

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 hear on Conv

I've certainly been giving Silverline a second chance this year. I'm still yet to delve into Convinced . At least at this point in my life, I don't get the heavy direction that Anberlin is heading in their latest efforts. However, Silverline is a primer to the even heavier Convinced. But rather than go into speculative commentary on today's post, I decided to return to the theme of seasonal playlists. So let's look at some of Anberlin's best summer songs!  

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