On hearing the first track, one might be forgiven for not wanting to bother with the remainder of the album – unless, that is, you’re so mad keen on Muse you think the world needs another. It’s not just the tone and vocal delivery, but the references to ‘the epicentre of the universe’ and all that, which all sends ‘pretentious guff’ alarm bells ringing.
Still, leave the CD spinning and Anison reveal a range of facets, spanning taut precision pop to expansive widescreen cinematic rock. Well, the band do cite influences spanning Radiohead and Blur, Bloc Party and Foals and the production, courtesy of Steve Lyon, who’s worked in a production and or engineering capacity with Depeche Mode, The Cure and, er, Paul McCartney (personally, I find the fact he’s worked with Amplifier, The Wedding Present and The Creatures more of a recommendation), certainly brings a multidimensionality to the sound.
There’s plenty going on, with guitars and synths duelling for supremacy across a succession of soaring choruses. There’s some canny and intelligent songwriting in evidence here, and the execution is immaculate.
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Given time to grow, songs like the Curesquely atmospheric ‘The Colour Red’ and the electro-rock of ‘Fluidity’ bed in nicely and have enough hooks to render them naggingly familiar after only a couple of plays. It’s even possible to forgive the slightly dubious retro space-age synth sounds that bipbap like laser guns in 80s sci-fi shows in the context of some nuanced songwriting imbued with a convincing emotive depth.
Single ‘Sail Back to Sleep’ does remind me very much of Mansun, but then, I rather liked Mansun, so that’s no criticism. ‘Spatial Awareness’ may have a whiff of Muse-like pretension about it, and there are traces throughout the album, but nevertheless, with ‘Memory Flashes’ Anison have produced a solid statement that’s ambitious, and effective.
Anison Online
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