The Anniversary, Designing A Nervous Breakdown

Damn, I hate that. You ever hear a song and swear you’ve heard something very much like it before, but can’t figure out where, even after ransacking your CD collection for those bands whose albums you heard only once? It’s like the aural equivalent of deja vu, I suppose, and that’s what’s going on here, for me; The Anniversary sound so incredibly familiar, so catchy and powerful, that I’d swear I’ve heard the music before. Of course, pieces of Breakdown remind me of other folks — the pseudo-tuneful shout-singing is Modest Mouse all the way, except that it’s married to the skewed indie-rock-isms of Braid and the Chicago indie-crowd (the Poster Children, in particular) and heavily dosed with Rentals-/Stereolab-ish Moog embellishments. The end result is pretty near to incredible, the coolest rock this side of Superchunk’s latest. From the teenage love anthem of “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” through to the dirge-y “Outro In No Minor,” the songs all manage to be both defiant and fierce, and yet still melancholy and resigned, somehow. After the CD finishes, I feel like I just went on the last bizarre roadtrip of my college days, when I know it may be a very long time ’til we all meet again; we’re all looking forward, but still trying to hold onto the memories we shared for one last glorious ride.