Annabel come to us from the indie metropolis of Kent, Ohio and Now That We’re Alive is the band’s ridiculously good debut effort. This really reminds me of late 90’s stuff in the vein of The Anniversary and The Get Up Kids. It’s kinda emo, kinda pop, kinda indie rock. Hell, on the brilliant “Castles In The Air” you can even point in the direction of the legendary Superchunk for comparisons. Needless to say, with all these similarities, Annabel are delivering a whole heaping of melodic goodness here. But, as good as the first three songs of Now That We’re Alive are, I got this sinking feeling that I had quickly figured the band out. Luckily, I was wrong, wrong and so wrong. Just when you start to think Annabel might be a one trick pony (and a damn fine one at that), they go and pull out the final two tracks of Now That We’re Alive. “…And Elsewhere” is a down-tempo piece filled with lush keyboards. “If The Accident Will” starts out slow but shows incredible range as the band lets the feedback rumble up from beneath them. The song gets damn near epic close to its end. For goodness sakes, I thought Annabel were just a nice indie pop band but they have shattered that notion. While Annabel might have me confused they also excite me beyond words.
Genre: Indie/Rock/Pop
RIYL: The Anniversary, The Get Up Kids, Superchunk
Label: Self-Released
Parade Rest
on Apr 12th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Awesome find, I really enjoyed the songs on their myspace.
By the way, I love your blog I read it everyday because we same to have a similar taste in music.
Take care!
on Apr 16th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
thanks rich.
i must say, these guys are one of my favorite finds for 2008 so far. the songs are just so freaking good.
on Apr 24th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
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