Reading this made me sad. If you'd asked me, I'd tell you Anberlin broke up in ~2016. But 2014...that flew by. Like soon that'll be 5 years ago. Wow.
I think I did the brunt of my emotional maturing over the years they were releasing albums and had a lot of firsts in that time. I was 15 when NTFP came out and only discovered them because one of the songs was played as an outro on a podcast hosted by an old high school friend of Christian's. Christian even emailed back when I shot him a message in 2005 asking *him* questions about the *podcast host*. From 2005 -> 2014 I started and finished high school, started and finished college, moved out of the house for my first time, had my first and last girlfriends (I married the last!)
Never Take Friendship Personal was the first-ever album I found online. Not that was on the radio, not that a friend recommended, not that was in a major motion picture. Here was the first album I merely stumbled upon through accident and fell in love with. I looped that thing so man times after downloading the individual songs on Limewire. You know that feeling we still sometimes, but rarely, get when we find an album (mostly though Sputnik) that you instantly have a connection with, love every song, and it becomes special to you for the rest of your life? Anberlin's was my very first.
Songs from NTFP and Cities served me well when I was going through run-of-the-mill over-dramatic teenaged angst moments, and so are forever burned in my head with great importance and nostalgia. I can't not get sad reading mini retrospectives like the ones that start this review.
Some day, years from now, I really really hope we get a semi-permanent reunion. Even if it's just for one more record.
Would this be worth listening to if I wasn't a fan of his prior solo work? I'm almost tempted if only because it sounds like it half-resembles an Anberlin record we never got to hear, or even just the b-sides of one.
Completely unrelated: I just read the Anberlin Wikipedia page, and then the Stephen Christian one. On the latter it mentions that just late last year, he became the "worship leader" at a church in Clearwater, Florida. I went to their Google page, and saw the most recent review:
"Message was good, the group Bible study was good, the music was a fail, I felt like I was at a rock concert. I couldn't hear anyone sing in the congregation. I come to worship not to be entertained. I can pay for that if I want it. Next time we will wait until the preaching."
I luv u Stephen
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