APRIL 2009 ONLINE EDITORIALS
Common Anomaly - These Drowning Days
By Greta Cornett
I was immediately drawn to Common Anomaly’s new album, These Drowning Days. It’s full of the unexpected. These alt rockers not only mixed genres, but there was an uncanny ability to play off of different rhythm patterns.
The first listen proved to be carefree, light, and extremely fun. The music ultimately borders between dance rock and late 70s/early 80s post punk phrasing with an indie innocence shining through. Upon closer inspection and a couple more listens, it opened into a break up album full of light moments, bitter resentments, and carried a more somber overtone reflected in the lyrics.
“Hate To Say” probably has the broadest appeal to a general audience. The vocal harmonies are awesome, the song is well written, the bass line is driven, and the drums are high energy. “Ghost” is absolutely a standout. It’s good reggae, period. It is very danceable and the drop falls perfectly. “Water, Water” is one of the instrumental tracks on the album and showcased a different side of the group. I’m not going to lie, it was slightly out of tune, but that is something that can be easily fixed. The thing to note is that the musicianship is there and these guys are young, so imagine where they’re going.
“Welcome In” and “Book of Fables” tied for my favorite song. They both showcase those great vocal harmonies and resemble a dreamy trance with waltz like feel. One happened to be up-tempo and one down-tempo. Coincidence?
Bottom line, this may be my favorite NoCo release so far this year.