Anberlin New Surrender
Xena Donovan
New Surrender is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Anberlin, released on September 30, 2008.[1] It is the band's first album on a major label, after signing with Universal Republic Records on August 16, 2007.[2] The album peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200 and 5 on the Billboard Top Modern Rock / Alternative Albums chart.
Anberlin went in to record their fourth album only twelve months after the 2007 release of their third, Cities. The album was recorded at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California, in early 2008 by producer Neal Avron.[3] The first single from the album, "Feel Good Drag" was originally set to be released to radio prior to the album on August 18, 2008,[4] but was pushed back to August 26.[5]
Anberlin set about doing two weeks of pre-production for New Surrender, a significant amount more than the four days they did with Cities. Guitarist Joseph Milligan said the pre-production comprised them "playing in a room, playing all the new songs together and working on parts together. We would tweak things here and there."[6] He also said the extra time allowed more input from the other band members, "everybody tossed in ideas. It was something we had never really had before. It was definitely a group effort." The two weeks enabled Milligan and fellow guitarist Christian McAlhaney to weed down the original 24 songs they had, to just 17, before moving into the studio and tracking 15.[6]
Vocalist and lyricist Stephen Christian, said that he wrote a portion of the fourth album while on a trip to New Orleans, at a small cafe named Kahve.[7] Christian said "the pressures were immense" after signing with Universal, and that he had a "minor breakdown" leading him to "run away to New Orleans" in February to write a couple of songs for the record.[8] Reminiscing over the experience he added, "the songs that came from the trip, inspired by New Orleans, are like none other before".[7]
In an interview with Hurley Blog, Stephen Christian stated his top five lyrical influences for the album have been: "1. The war (in Iraq) 2. Revelations/conspiracy theories 3. Recent news that one of our close friends has been diagnosed with what could be a terminal disease 4. My time spent in New Orleans 5. My current relationship."[9] Rhythm guitarist Christian McAlhaney has made his debut as a songwriter on the album; Stephen Christian said "He is an incredible counterpoint to Joseph Milligan and has written several songs that are going to be on this record!.".[9]
"We will all come to the point in our life where we have to admit that we feel defeated, that something has conquered us. We must change, not because we want to, but because we desperately have to. We can not take life in its current suffocating state, even to admit such desperation shows that we are feeling deserted, wandering the barren desert, a shell of our former selves. It is only up from here, it is impossible to sink any lower into ourselves or our circumstances. But we can be salvaged, a deliverance. No vice can stand, no fix can take. The thorn in the side can be removed, but you have to be willing to admit and surrender. Surrender your habits, your lifestyle, your past, your present, and your future. This is your new surrender. The new surrender. New Surrender."
The actual recording and production took place at multiple studios in Hollywood, California, under Avron throughout March and early April 2008. The first recording took place at Swing House Recordings in West Hollywood, followed by NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood, where they completed at lot of the drum tracks and began the bass and guitar tracks. Finally they completed recording at The Boat Studio in Silver Lake, where the main focus was the vocals.[13]
The album's mysterious title has been explained multiple times by Anberlin's lyricist Christian. He has said the title explains people's need to give things up to change, "In everybody's life, there's something they know they have to give up... There's something they have to change or take care of in their lives to progress to the next step."[14] His original explanation on the band's Myspace blog quickly spread across music news sites, with them reporting his insight on the title and how "we must change, not because we want to, but because we desperately have to."[12]
A pre-order for the upcoming album was available throughout the 2008 Warped Tour in the US. Anberlin was showcasing their new material on the main stage for the entire tour, with the pre-order coming with a USB device on a wristband. The USB contained a direct link to a digital download of the album, available on the release date September 30, 2008. The USB also had four exclusive tracks, including an alternate acoustic remix of "Breaking", and remixes of "Hello Alone", "The Unwinding Cable Car" and "The Feel Good Drag".[15]
In response to some fans who claimed Anberlin was selling out, the band members released a music video called "Compound Lockdown". Christian McAlhaney introduced the video by saying that Anberlin "likes money a lot" and was going in a different direction, more towards a "hip-hop, thug rap, dirty south kind of thing". The song "Drop Dat (Did You?)" comes on next, displaying Stephen Christian and the members of Anberlin, accompanied by Vic Fuentes of Pierce the Veil and members of Four Year Strong, rapping to the song. This, of course, is meant to be taken lightly as a joke.
In the week of its release, New Surrender sold 36,000 units, entering the Billboard 200 at the number 13 position, surpassing the number 19 peak reached by Cities.[27] It was also announced that the album had debuted at number five on the Billboard Top Modern Rock / Alternative Albums chart,[28][29] number one on the Top Christian Albums chart,[30] number six on the Top Digital Albums chart.[31] New Surrender came in at number 85 on the Australian ARIA charts.[32]
In its first two weeks, New Surrender sold over 45,000 copies in the United States alone.[33] The album held its ground in the Billboard 200, staying in the top 100 for three weeks, coming in at number 50 in week two and 79 in week three.[34]
Anberlin has announced the latest in a series of livestreams revisiting their past albums. Paper Tigers will see the band performing their 2008 album New Surrender on January 8. Tickets and merch packages are available at anberlinmerch.com.
I have a deep and abiding love for writing, photography, videography, and rock and roll, all of which led to spending four years as Associate Editor for NewReleaseToday.com, the largest Christian music website online. Now I'm serving as a freelance writer and photographer, still passionate about music that makes us think deeper and love more.
i got a dog named juneau (a great dane), moved to st. pete, then to los angeles, and now reside in nashville. i started a few projects and signed to a new label. i could keep going, a lot has happened.
Stephen: A&B started because i had a surplus of songs written just sitting on my laptop. i have been playing solo for many years with these random songs and i called aaron marsh (Copeland) and asked him if he would produce an EP of a few of these songs for me. turned out some great songs and knew that i wanted to complete it and make it an entire record.
the reason: i needed a little ying and yang in my life. anberlin is one extreme of music, lyrics, live show, energy, etc. i was absolutely getting burned out. a&b gives me the other side, wide variety of musicians and instrumentation, and the tempo and lyrics are as diverse from anberlin as it gets. balance, it all comes down to balance in life, A&B gives that to me.
Anchor & Braille have a new album coming out on August 4th. What label is it on or is it an independent release? How many songs are on the album, who produced it, and what musicians played on the recording?
aaron marsh produced it, and the musicians are john bucklew, louis defribrezio, micah tawlks, ana becker, racheal platting, and a few other brass players from our local community. i like it because it is as close as central florida has ever come to creating something like a broken social scene.
Do you expect to tour much in support of the Anchor and Braille album? If so, where will you be making stops? Any chance of you popping up during an Anberlin gig and playing Anchor and Braille songs?
Stephen: i would love to tour with anberlin half the time and a&b half the time, but i know that is not possible (i would have 4 other very angry guys breathing down my neck). but i will try to tour AS MUCH as i possibly can, on as diverse tours as i can take. i want to create it where each tour i am with different musicians (sometimes Americana, sometimes indie-instrumental heavy, etc.) so i can continue to expand my musical horizons.
first off faith in Jesus Christ plays into everything i do in my life, on and off stage. if it were not for the numerous blessings i believe there would be no band, no music, perhaps no life since i, as many people do, have dealt with severe depression in my past.
Stephen: there are hundreds of songs floating out there, the majority to personal or to jejune to ever be put to music, but for the most part they (the journals) are the source of my inspiration, if you will. i have always said that you have your entire life to write your first record, and from there it is a collection of memories in which you expound on, and you can see why most bands would feel this way to because of the heavy laden tour schedule. i think for me i understood this early and tried myself to expound immediately on massive events in my life immediately through pen and paper.
from there i go back to my journal and figure out what one liners, or situations in life best fit the song. i try to sing about ONLY what has happened in my own life personally, it would be absolutely hard for me to relate or put passion behind lyrics that someone else wrote for me.
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