Album Review

Say Anything – Anarchy, My Dear

• 12th Mar 2012

Previous albums released by Say Anything have been met with little criticism. Their self-titled LP, In Defense Of The Genre and …Is A Real Boy are all taken to be stalwart efforts in the indie rock and emo scene. And, while everything this band releases will be compared to their earlier work, it is important to take each album as it is – an album. Not many, but one whose content is to be judged on its own.

This is what I’ve done while listening to Anarchy, My Dear. And, it is easy to take this as a Say Anything record. The first single released from the album was “Burn A Miracle”, which edges into pop-punk by Say Anything’s standards. We see Bemis’ traditional lyrics being metaphorically protesting (‘Burn a miracle if you’ve got a soul / burn a miracle, burn America’), on top of the Turner brothers’ much less protesting guitar work.

A first from what I gather, self-titled track “Say Anything” maintains the pace of the “Burn A Miracle”, keeping the bands natural punk/emo sound throughout. While “Night’s Song” brings everything slightly slower as Coby Linder brings down the tempo.

Max Bemis’ trademark venomous, knife-edge song writing is clearly evident on what is easily the most powerful track, “Admit It Again”. Say Anything fans will quickly think back to a previously released tune, “Admit It”. And “Admit It Again” is a continuation of the latter, continuing Bemis’ hatred for this current hipster culture, attacking posers with his pen rather than a sword.

“So Good” sees everything getting a little depressing and heart aching. Bemis’ lyrical turn in this song is some of the best we’ll see on the album (“Her gaze is deafening”, ‘If I’m her fall from Grace / Then she’s my Christening’). And, though the chorus may be a little ‘plain’, the song is a simple love song. Describing how nothing matters outside of your feelings for one another, it’s not that hard to remember Bemis is now a happily married man.

“Sheep” once more attacks the hipster culture to an extent, though not as much as “Admit It Again”. Bemis simply shows little remorse to those who jump on the band wagon to fit in, i.e.: sheep.

“Peace Out” is more of a break up song than any other on Anarchy, My Dear. Bemis’ scathing lyrics telling the unnamed that there’ll ‘Never be another song / Never another thought … / Not for you’. The song changes drastically in the end, with an instrumental closer sounding almost like Asian, Geisha music. Different to say the least.

I once heard from a fan of the band that what they love most about Say Anything is how the start of a song may sound nothing like the end. This is the case in more than one occasion on this album. Not only “Peace Out”, but also “Anarchy, My Dear”. But more on that later

Bemis’ wife lends her vocals to “Overbiter”, as well as previously mentioned song “So Good”, but sadly fails to deliver as much as you’d expect from Eisley’s Sherri DuPree. “Of Steel” has Bemis bellowing ‘Can you save me?’ throughout, which for all he’s worth, get tiresome after a while.

Title track “Anarchy, My Dear” kicks off as an almost-acoustic soulful track. It does pick up pace almost instantly mid-song, with little build up. Another obviously protest song, one of the better on the album. “The Stephen Hawking” closes the release, kicking off in similar fashion to the previous track. Starting off slow, it picks up speed and atrocity, Bemis’ voice getting increasingly strained and violent as the song goes on until its close. But, once again, the track changes momentum and drops back down after a second surge of energy.

Anarchy, My Dear is indeed, a good album – one that the guys can be proud of. One that many would only be happy to produce. However, I am going to contradict myself and now look at it with regards to Say Anything’s previous releases.

If we do this, it is a mere shadow. Albums such as …Is A Real Boy and the self-titled Say Anything only come around every so often – never by the same band. So, to expect a third outlandishly brilliant punk album was warranted. It doesn’t help when Bemis has been quoted as describing Anarchy, My Dear as the band’s “first attempt to write a true ‘punk’ record”. It’s a shame that their previous records were more punk than this will ever be. It lacks the honesty, severity of previous attempts to be considered ‘pure’ punk rock.

I do stay true to my word that this is a good album. Sadly, not great. Especially by Say Anything’s record to date.

Tracklist:
Burn A Miracle
Say Anything
Night’s Song
Admit It Again
So Good
Sheep
Peace Out
Overbiter
Of Steel
Anarchy, My Dear
The Stephen Hawking

Download: Admit It Again, The Stephen Hawking, Peace Out