Review Summary: Songs for the uninspired
Anberlin’s decision to split in 2014 came as a surprise to many of their fans and followers. They had just released the
Devotion compilation just a few months prior to the announcement of their disbanding, and
Vital had came out barely over a year ago. Much like baseball star Derek Jeter’s farewell tour in the same year, watching the days go by knowing that eventually we will have seen the end of them by the year’s conclusion was an extremely sad thought indeed, and just like #2’s game-winning hit in his last home game, Anberlin were able to go out on top with
Lowborn, an album that brought their career to a fitting end. As the days counted down until their final show, time slowly ticking, fans all across the world had to deal with the harsh reality that this was finally it, and there would be no going back now.
Of course, the biggest question following Anberlin’s breakup revolved around the future of the band’s individual members. No one faced more anticipation than lead singer Stephen Christian, who decided to continue on with his side project Anchor & Braille. The thing about side projects, however, is that their members typically explore different sounds in stark contrast to their main group. In the past, Anchor & Braille was used as an outlet for songs similar to the softest Anberlin songs. With his third album, he explores more of a synthpop and new wave-influenced sound compared to the alternative rock of Anberlin. Taking into account the fact that
Lowborn was very much influenced by the sound of 80s new wave (especially on tracks such as “Stranger Ways” or “Armageddon”),
Songs for the Long Drive Home comes across somewhat as the next step in Anberlin’s musical progression, like the hypothetical album they would have made after
Lowborn.
Even taking all of that into account,
Songs for the Long Drive Home still feels underwhelming. The main problem with it is that it’s just not engaging enough, which was the same issue that befell Anchor & Braille’s previous record,
The Quiet Life. It’s a nice album, and the synths combined with Christian’s vocals create a nice atmosphere, but it’s just that –
nice, and nothing more. Take opener and lead single “Watch You Burn” – the electronic touches are pretty, but when it comes time to listen to the chorus, Stephen’s delivery of “all the right moves in all the right places” (which I’m pretty sure he stole from that OneRepublic song) just falls completely flat, and it’s sung without any of the emotion that made him such a great singer in the first place. He goes “I want to watch you catch fire” in the most dullest way possible, and it hurts to see him settling for something this mediocre when he’s capable of soaring to great heights like the bridge of “Stranger Ways”. Unfortunately, not much of the album is memorable enough to be considered an ‘earworm’, and generally that’s one of the best parts about the synthpop genre.
At its best,
Songs for the Long Drive Home feels exactly what its title implies – like music for late night drives down the highway, with the darkness of nightfall encapsulating the outside world. The atmosphere of “Detroit Stab” specifically feels engineered for the long drive, with Stephen’s gentle vocals complementing the light, barebones aura incredibly well. His soft singing comes off as extremely heartfelt, and the occasional percussion adds to the haunting nature of the track. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a song like “Nightfall” relies on the constant pounding of the electronic drum machine and chirpy synthesizers to carry Stephen’s vocal work. The album shines the brightest when he brings his A-game vocally, and the electronic elements work best when they enhance it rather than carry it. It’s a one-sided relationship, and as soon as Stephen falters, the whole track suffers.
Yet most of the album is wasted on middle-of-the-road songs that are either midtempo or slower, and it comes off as overly repetitive by its end. Much of
Songs for the Long Drive Home plays it too safe to be memorable, and while the electronic elements do sound pleasing, one can only listen to the same synthesizer-infused track so many times before it becomes a chore. It’s a nice album, but nice just doesn’t cut it when Stephen Christian is capable of doing so much better than just “nice”. Anchor & Braille’s change in style isn’t exactly an unexpected one, but it’s one that should have been executed a lot better.
