It’s really hard for me to start this review. I really want to convey how much this EP means to me without fanboying and gushing over how much I love the band and their music; well, I just told you…screw it. To say they are by far one of the most extremely talented, most genuine, and (sadly) most tragically underrated bands I have ever heard would be a complete injustice not to just Annabel, but to you the reader. This is what music should be, this is what music NEEDS to be.
I think Brandon Lutmer, my dear friend and spiritual advisor, summed up “Here We Are Tomorrow” best when talking about the track “We Came As Today”‘s opening lyrics; Ben Hendricks and group yell out “I’m coming out tonight/For the first time in a long while/I’m hoping I’ll be inspired/By never knowing just when I might die”. Brandon said, and I’m paraphrasing but I have the jist of it right, “Everyone has had the feeling of not being around people for a period of time and coming out of that and just having that feeling of…(fist clenched tap on the steering wheel) ‘fuck yeah’.” In the context and the time of when he said it, it hit me that the entire EP had that feeling of feeling more powerful than you ever had before and not thinking twice about it, especially for me. That’s what I got out of this, and that’s what I’ve wanted to feel from a release for a very long time.
“Here We Are Tomorrow”, released in November of 2010 on Tiny Engines Records, is more than just four songs that are beautifully crafted emo…er, pop…indie…I really don’t know how to define it, but I digress; it’s more than beautifully crafted songwriting. Annabel is in a league of all their own, bar none. I haven’t been this sentimentally attached to a band in an extremely long time, or heard a release that just made me absolutely weak. This EP made me feel nostalgic and roused old feelings that made me feel like everything that stood in my way was merely an obstacle that is going to be overcame with the simplest of ease. I have nothing to fear and I have nothing to cower from. Embracing life is what encompasses existence, not your obstacles.
I would ask whoever reads this to listen to “Here We Are Tomorrow”, and give me an examples of where I should think different, but I won’t do that, because if you respond to that your reasons are crap, no offense. Annabel, to say I’m proud of you on this release would be a lie. Your EP is beautiful, and your music is defining of so much more than than just that, music. It’s expression in the highest form, and shows emotion that far, far, far surpasses the term “basic”. Most bands take years and multiple releases to do what Annabel did in four songs. I’m absolutely in love with the EP; I suggest you click this link to their Bandcamp site and find out why. Buy it, simply put. I haven’t stopped applauding since I first heard it.
Paul
05/10/2011
I think Annabel are an example of a band that, completely unfortunately and ignorantly, gets left behind in a "scene" for not being another god damn carbon copy of every band that is popular. They don't have yell-ish vocals, an over-abundance of finger tapping to the point where it becomes as completely meaningless and uninteresting as an e-maj chord, or gang vocals in every verse.
Annabel is good at writing songs are really good AND that wont be embarrassing in two years, the latter being something that very few "scene" bands at the moment have accomplished. I'll put this album on the shelf next to Stay What You Are in terms of albums from a time period that I'll be able to listen to at any point of my life going forward.