Annuals

Be He Me

(Ace Fu)

Record Review by Amber Henson

Don't call them The Annuals. They are not, in fact, The Annuals. You are not an Annuals fan if you call them The Annuals. Since most bands are 'The' something at this point, I'm not even sure how to write about a non-The band.

Regardless of all this name-calling, Annuals are a band from North Carolina that, well, whatever it is they do, they do it well. They call themselves 'experimental/indie/alternative' and that seems like a pretty apt description. They have an interesting sound that is professional without being overproduced. There's not a real comparable band for them, though there is a sense of the wall of sound that Muse is so good at building, but with a more improvised and wacky sense. Annuals have a lot of soul.

Be He Me is all over the place, with slow ballads that make you want to zone out and think about life, and fast beats that make you want to stand up and show the world how funky you can be. And yet the album has a lovely flow to it. About two-thirds of the way through, you start to think things are slowing down, but then halfway through that song, they speed things right back up again.

Annuals are a large band, with six members (five dudes and one lady), but everyone is heard in every song; it's not just like "Oh, I think there was a backup singer," or, "Oh, there's the lute." Judging from their pictures on MySpace, Annuals make music inside and outside of the studio. iMac not needed.