It's hard not to think of that annoying "Tomorrow" song when you hear the name "Annie," but the futuristic rock on the debut album from a band called Annie replaced all my memories of oversung showtunes. Balancing an overall Radiohead feel with Beatlesque melodies and a distinctive lounge lizard style, Annie is soon to become a band you won't want to get out of your head - much less take out of your CD player. Annie's poetically vague lyrics flowingly take a backseat to each song's overall effect (which may explain why the lyrics aren't in the song order on the back of the album's cardboard case). And what are these effects? Buzzing guitars, plinking keys, golden-toned horns and laid-back, Thom Yorke-ish "shoegazer" vocals fill the album, but the simplicity of the fivesome's potent songwriting talent is as bright as their harmonies are sharp. Though Annie is certainly a departure for Bulletproof Records, label home to Dear Ephesus and Squad 5-0, they may prove to be the forefront of originality for the modern rock label, if not all modern rock. Annie's sci-fi canon blue(s) is one album you should get today - or, at the latest, tomorrow.
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Tony LaFianzaNew quintet Annie is going to cause quite a stir if they stay at it. They have a great sense of art, unusual song phrasing, and a creative, mood-inducing sound. The CD is intense, as well as lovely, and relaxing. I had thoughts of the Velvet Underground as I listened to the opening few guitar chords of the first song, "Means to an End," being lightly strummed, but as soon as Stephen Nichols began…Bandoppler 1999Reviewed by Sucré MusiqueOh, what Beatles-y cleverness we find in the band known as Annie. For an audience approaching the new millennium with lightning speed, Annie's album sci-fi canon blue(s) is a reminder of the genius that Ringo, Paul, George and John fed to the masses back in the 1960's. With vocals that are quite uncanny in similarity to the aforementioned Lennon, there's a familiarity there already, even from the…Similar sounding releases
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