Album Reviews

After gestating for nine years, Annabel have released their fourth album, ‘Worldviews,’ via Tiny Engines. As the title already suggests, the album brothers Ben and Andy Hendricks - the creative forces behind Annabel - reconciling with the ways the world has changed in the decade since they’ve been away.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the band’s take on indie/emo. Think early Jimmy Eat World, The Promise Ring with some Death Cab For Cutie worked in for good measure.Songs ebb and flow and effortlessly flicker between poppy and hook-laden, ever so slightly chaotic and introspective with some good ol’ twinkly Midwest guitars mixed in in all the right places.

If there is such a thing as ‘vintage Annabel songs’, the title track and previously released single ‘Dog’ would be it. ‘Defense Mechanism’ could just as well have been a Nada Surf song, ‘Small Victories’ is as surprising as ‘555’was on Jimmy Eat World’s latest album and the Death Cab-like ‘We Are Where We Are’ is stunning in all of its mellowness.

‘Worldviews’ is one of those albums that doesn’t instantly reveal itself. But spend some time with it to peel back all the different layers, and you’ll find a beautiful emo album that sounds like it was until recently kept in a time capsule.

Worldviews track list:

1. Another World
2. All Time
3. Worldviews
4. We Are Where We Are
5. Medicine
6. Every Home Needs A Ghost
7. Before Too Long
8. Dog
9. Small Victories
10. Defense Mechanism
11. Hopium
12. The Afterworld