Anathallo – Canopy Glow (Anticon)
3/5
By: Tim Smith
First impressions of the new album from Anathallo worried me ever so slightly - the opening harmonies of 'Noni's Field' made me wonder if I had heard this song on the latest family car advert. I breathed a sigh of relief as sounds of Fiest drifted away and an echo of Broken Social Scene came to my ears, though slightly more clinical and innocent. Anathallo can expect their album to be well received this side of the Atlantic, considering they can find space in British pop adoption of rhythmically lead folk this summer. If they etch out some breathing space from Florence and Mr Mumford, people may discover a superb piece of musicianship.
Canopy Glow boasts a set of particularly intelligent arrangements and ideas as the soft textures of Matt Joynt's (the band's founder) vocals with the harmonies of Erica Froman glide over shoegazey drum beats. Anathallo’s undeniable post punk influences run deep throughout their album, whilst pushing forward their own style in a direction away from big beat folk music, allowing for a more technical almost classical dimension to their work. A subtle blend of naturalistic instruments; dreamy sustained piano, violin and delicate brass are entwined with background production induced clicks and beats with deep progressive guitars.
The overused distorted vocals sometimes brings it too close to a British indie album at the turn of the century – and you have to wonder if there’s anyone still making music who actually wants to sound like Embrace. This however, is overcome by a quest for quality which they regularly succeed in with altering but connected melodies layered over the top of increasingly thoughtful combinations of rhythm and sound.
Yet Joynt's lyrics seem to be lost in between the rising crescendos around him. His quickly uttered flickering of words seemed to be drowned out, and this is where you begin to feel like a spectator rather than a participant in Canopy Glow. If this type of music had not been heard before, we would be happy to watch and listen and take in what Anathallo had to show us, out of curiosity. But alas, it has - and without anything to reach out and grab me it falls short of really affecting me in the way I want it to. Apart from 'Italo' and 'Bells', the album drifts in and out of songs almost too well, making us forget where we are. The lyrics seem to be written to express distinct feelings, but lacking poetry and being guilty being over sentimental, you find yourself waiting for the next violin break or the crashing together of instruments, which is when the album is at its most triumphant, rousing up emotions in a way the lyrics fail to do.
All this new American soft rock, along with Final Fantasy, in my view lacks a bit of balls. Canopy Glow sounds like an album made by a guy who was at every prog show in your home town, pressed flowers in books but also had a calendar with pictures of cats on it. It’s probably a good thing that people are still making beautiful music to make us feel better. But for an album talking about nature, plants and mud, we still seem to come out of it very clean, a bit like we never went out the front door in the first place.
Having said all of this, as a spectacle it is beautiful - and in the depths of winter, when the weather is as grey as the front cover, I will be craving some of the nocturnal positivity and glimpses of warmth this album can produce.
Artists in this article: Anathallo
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