Annuals - Such Fun
This second full-length release from youthful (early twentysomething) six piece Annuals makes for a confusing listen. Usually after spending a few weeks getting to know an album you feel you have a pretty clear, or at least approximate, understanding of the band’s intent, the general feel of the piece and a handy platitudinous soundbite that sums them up in one or two neat phrases.
With ‘Such Fun’, the more I listened to it, well… the less sense I could in fact make of it. Mainly, this is because of the quite marked shifting in style from song to song. So, for example, one hears opener ‘Confessor’ and (reaching for the handy little book of record reviewing clichés) thinks “Hmm, a bit epic, 80s-tinged, radio friendly”, then comes the post-rock piano tinklings of ‘Hot Night Hounds’ (see also ‘The Tape’), followed by ‘Springtime’: more piano, but this time with a kind of melancholy Prefab Sprout vocal. By the time ‘Down The Mountain” starts, and appears to be on a rollickin’ country hoe-down sort of a vibe, you’re getting really confused, especially when the vocal goes all emo half-way in…
Add to this already eclectic mix the alt.country stylings (‘Always Do’), the over-sensitive ballad which veers off into a bizarre and rather unconvincing world music coda (‘Hardwood Floor’), the 12-bar blues of ‘Hair Don’t Grow’ and, well, you can perhaps understand the difficulty that one might have in finding anything to latch on to, or indeed relate to. ‘Blue Ridge’ is perhaps the least successfully realised track, right from the start: with what sound like sheep’s baa-ings, followed by a voice asking gently and sensitively “oh, hey, what’s wrong, oh, it’s okay”, which make me think the sheep noises are in fact meant to be a baby’s cries? Just odd!
The album ends on a high, with what is perhaps one of the best tracks - ‘Wake’ - creating a genuine sense of grandeur and coherence. Overall, though, I must admit to really rather struggling with this. Eclecticism is not necessarily, or generally, such a bad thing, but where it becomes troublesome is where it prevents the listener getting much of a feel of the band’s identity, intent or personality.