Album Reviews

Taking influences from bands such as Weezer, The Rentals, Hum and Failure and then wrapping it all up in their own brand of space-rock, San Diego’s Anakin deliver the goods on their No Sleep debut “Celestial Frequency Shifter”.

The band shows its hand right from the start in opening track “Astro(not)” with fuzzed out guitars dishing out gentle riffs, silky smooth vocals that pull you in with sweet melodies and an overall warm sound. These guys head down the same path with “Cosmosapien” but throw in some more overt synth sounds that add yet another layer to their sound, making it even easier for you to float away. As if to make sure you don’t simply drift off into outer space, Anakin pick up the pace in “Lucidity” but do it in a way that blends in perfectly with the rest of the songs.

As you listen to first single “Satellite” with a little extra crunch in the guitars, “Clairvoyance” and “Ctrl Alt Del”, you can’t help but notice this is a band that knows very well what they want to do and who will not deviate from their course, except for maybe a meteor shower heading their way. It makes “Celestial Shape Shifter” an impressively cohesive album that hints at what they could do if they take their sound even further. The force sure is strong in young Anakin!