Anabot is a bit different from what I usually listen to. The lead vocalist is a good singer, but her voice to be a bit too pretty, too clean. She sounds quite a bit like a 30’s jazz singer that got lost in a studio and stumbled into a modern indie pop-rock band’s session. If someone was going to cast a band to play in a lounge for a noir film set in the present day but wanted that old noir aesthetic Anabot would be a good choice. Whether this is a good or bad thing in your mind may depend on how many Humphrey Bogart movies you’ve seen.
The first track in the EP “Wonder” is somewhat non-indicative of the rest of the album. Being a more down-played song than the rest of the album. It begins with a simple creeping bassline, tremelo guitar, and Analise Nelson lending her too clean vocals to the story of the song. Appropriate with Anabot’s noir image “Wonder” tells the story of an aspiring starlet. The story deals with the trials any artist who hasn’t experienced recognition, the desire to pack up your creative ambitions and move on with life on one hand and the chafing sense of missed opportunity on the other. Instrumentally “Wonder” is the also the most solid on the record with the swirling organ, twanging guitar, and spot-on bass mixing with Nelson’s vocals in a spectacular fashion.
“Kiss Like a Knife” uses a faster approach with harmonized vocals and reverb soaked guitar. The song is by no means bad but feels lacking after the great track “Wonder” which precedes it. “Candy Eyed” takes a dramatic shift in direction by opening with a synth riff and incorporates more brass. “Candy Eyed” is a decent up-beat song even if it is somewhat repetitive. “Come Home With Me” continues with the synth laden direction of the previous song. It has a fairly disco-esque guitar riff and mechanical drum beat. “Come Home With Me” is a decent conclusion to the EP, one however gets the feeling that there may have been a way to approach the song that could have expanded on its potential.
Potential may be the watchword of this write-up. “Wonder” shows what Anabot is capable of when it is at its best. Given that this is only the band’s second EP, they have plenty of time to mature into their sound. None of the songs were bad, however “Wonder” is in a separate class from the others. Hopefully Anabot capitalizes on the potential they have shown themselves capable of in their future work.
Rating: 7.5/10
Buy: iTunes
