When doing my research for Annabel’s forthcoming release, a particular framing of thought stuck out to me. Worldviews, the band’s fourth full-length album to be released on Tiny Engines, is their first release in nine years. However, the brains behind the operation (brothers Ben and Andy Hendricks) consider this less like a comeback and more “as the product of years spent gestating.”
This perspective was immediately evident to me with the album’s opener “Another World.” As the LP’s title might suggest, Worldviews is almost entirely centered on confronting how the world has changed for the Hendricks’ on a universal and personal level. “Another World” is the cinematic introduction to this thesis with its soft, swelling lead-in to find Ben waking up and trying to make sense of all the world’s change and fear and, frankly, depression. The track slowly intensifies and wastes no time in giving the listener exactly what they can expect for the next 11 songs: classic, tried-and-true emo (think Jimmy Eat World, The Promise Ring, American Football).
That said, I want to be careful as to not cast this album as a stereotypical “midwest” emo album. There is a chaotic, pop energy on a lot of these songs that allow the Hendricks brothers to really set the Annabel sound apart from others. A lot of this differentiation can be heard on tracks “All Time,” “Worldviews,” and “Defense Mechanism” where fluttering drums bounce on top of catchy and intertwining guitars and melodies. This hyper drumming acts as a hook, keeping the listener on the edge of their seat, while Ben delivers some truly poetic lines and anthemic choruses.
Worldviews isn’t just about looking around and asking “what the hell happened here?” On “We Are Where We Are,” Ben looks inward and asks the same question. “The television’s always on in the background, afraid of what I’ll start to think if I turn off the sound,” Ben sings against a slower backdrop that builds delicately and ends on swelling strings. This track offers a balance and further complexity to the album, making it much more than a one note project.
If I had to pick one song on Worldviews to be a sort of executive summary, it would have to be “Dog.” When I read that this work was largely about facing the chaos of the world, I immediately thought of the “this is fine” meme. And apparently, so did Annabel. With a crystal clear nod to the meme, “Dog” is the perfect nihilistic acceptance song with lyrics such as “Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong and it feels like I’m taking turns; sometimes I learn, sometimes I don’t but I’m not that concerned.” It is somewhat of a comforting, though perhaps a little bleak, form of acceptance that I think is quite present throughout the album if you look deep enough. And as the weather is warming up, and the world is forever frightening, I think it’s the perfect time to sit inside and assume the role of the “this is fine” dog. Give Worldviews a spin and sit in your contemplation of it all.
Worldviews hits streaming platforms on June 14th. Listen to the latest singles now:
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