Anathallo – Canopy Glow

Anathallo

The title of Anathallo’s second album drops a heavy hint about what might lie within. Should we expect brittle folk harmonies? We should. Will there be floaty, incomprehensible lyrics? But of course. And might there be talk of campfires, stars and fireflies? Indeed so. But although Canopy Glow does meet these rather low expectations, it also transcends them for a few satisfying moments over the course of the album.

The opener, ‘Noni’s Field’, is beautiful and elusive. The song speculates about death, counterposing delicate washes of harmony with lyrics such as “You, how will you go? Out through your mouth in a sigh? Into a space we don’t know?” Matt Joynt and Eric Froman’s strong, high voices combine to arresting effect.

‘The River’, also early in the album, sounds like Grizzly Bear in the way it combines harmonies with complex instrumentation involving cello, piano and many forms of percussion, which build slowly in the background before emerging thrillingly to drive the final chorus. This is the track that really stands out, with its cryptic cry of “Is this a ceremony?”.

Anathallo have a serious tendency to sound very like Sufjan Stevens, through their combination of falsetto tunes and percussion and brass backing, and the similarity becomes positively distracting on ‘Cafetorium’. Over a lovely, lilting tune are laid some hilariously portentous lyrics about a high school calvary. “Baptised by a dollop from a cool whip bowl”, “salt rings like the outlined shroud on the tomb of your skin”. Giving the band the benefit of the doubt, I assume this is all highly tongue in cheek.

By the time the album reaches ‘Sleeping Torpor’, an particularly appropriate title, you get a distinct sense of déjà vu after the first few bars. There are no surprises here and it turns out there are none to come. Too many of the remaining songs lull the listener towards a state of catatonia. They can also be actively irritating, ‘Northern Lights’ for example with its chorus, “You papercut the air above the tundra”, which definitely lands the wrong side of the line dividing elusive from fey. The remainder of the album sinks slowly and remorselessly into a deep, sticky morass, eventually grinding to a halt and expiring with a faint exhalation.

So, there’s no doubt that Anathallo can write decent songs with energy and drive that pack a real punch. Just not a full album of them.