Labels: Day After
Review by: Alex Hannan
This is Anyway’s first CD, ten new and four old tracks of tight D.C.ish punk from the Czech Republic. There’s a Nation of Ulysses flavour running through the record, musically – tense and dynamic with that occasional hyperactive kid feel to it, nervous and repetitive.
The vocals make me think of Einar Orn, Bjork’s vocal partner in the Sugarcubes, if he’d sung instead of speaking so much… it could be the playful mood which breaks through from time to time, like the squealed chant of “I want you to call me John Wayne” in “Homeboy”, or the surreal images which he puts in the lyrics. (“I peeled the world and its bitter peels were singing in my mind” – from “Killing the sunrise”.) There are heartfelt lyrics here, though, as well as sarcasm and surreality. “no matter how hard i clapped the pillow to my ears it makes me think more… try not to be my own enemy try not to be my own slave” – from “Enemy”.
so far, I haven’t really warmed to the songs here, but I’d go to see Anyway play. they’re full of energy, and tight enough to command your attention.