Anarbor: Hearing Colours Seeing Sounds
Anarbor
Just out of high school pop-punk band Anarbor is boring. Or at least, that was my first impression when I first started listening to their EP Hearing Colours Seeing Sounds. But after a few listens, I’ve decided that this band is worth reviewing, seeing as their following EP showed significant improvement. Hearing Colours Seeing Sounds won’t change the way you listen to music, address anything groundbreaking, or provide a new style of music. However, it will give you the first peek into Anarbor, a band I suspect will grow big within the next three years.
Slade Echeverri, the band’s lead singer, uses the opener “I’ll Stay To The West” to flaunt his Brendon Urieish vocals. Somewhat emo, somewhat grunge, mostly pop, “I’ll Stay To The West” is by far the best song on the EP.
The following track, “Where The Wild Things Are (Monsters),” is the perfect example of Anarbor’s downfalls. Some of the lyrics are as follows:
“You’re the monster underneath/Lost of all faith/Feeding off my dreams/Where I thought I was safe/So shut your mouth/And bite your tongue/Because your a liar never fooling anyone/You’re the smoke in the air making everyone choke.”
Cringe? So did I. And Anarbor offers no originality to make this song worth listening to over and over, except for the offer of poppish catchiness.
A quality piece on this album is “Anatomy,” which is comparable to the Plain White T’s slower side. With harpy guitar riffs and Echeverri’s carrying voice, the only thing that could murder this track is lyrics. Homicide it is! “I wanna feel the beat of your selfish heart/As our bodies melt into one in the dark/I wanna hold you close as we fall into the night.” Not as horrible as “Where The Wild Things Are (Monsters),” but still cliché and a bit misplaced.
By the last track, it’s clear that Anarbor is aiming to attract fans with a familiar sound. Hearing Colours Seeing Sounds doesn’t offer anything new to music fans, but thankfully Anarbor has a second, more recent EP that demonstrates growth within the band. Hearing Colours Seeing Sounds is an EP that future fans of Anarbor will buy and think, Wow, they came from that. I see future growth for this band, and once they outgrow the first album jitters, they will be popular.
Rating: C-
Recommended Songs: Anatomy, I’ll Stay To The West
Toss These Songs: Where The Wild Things Are (Monsters)