I loved We’re Here Because We’re Here. Weather Systems was also really good. So I was looking forward to my first play of the new album Distant Satellites. The familiar keyboard strings started and for 15 seconds it was nice and then the drum kicks in at a hundred miles an hour. I wasn’t expecting that. I listened all the way through and at the end I thought that I must have missed something. My immediate thought was that it sounded very samey. Does that make sense? What I mean is that every track started quiet, repeated the tune a lot and grew to a loud intense bit and then got quiet again at the end. I had to play it again. This time I noticed the Drum Machine sounds that some people have compared to Kid A Radiohead. It still didn’t do anything for me, apart from two stand out tracks and I do mean stand out. The first is The Lost Song Part 2 and the second is Ariel. They both stick to the formula I mentioned earlier but they are good songs but sung really well with great emotion and both by Lee. The rest of it is disappointing to me…… but why?

My favourite Anathema song ever is “Everything”. So maybe I am comparing this new album to that and its not coming up to scratch. But then I started thinking a bit more . ( which can sometimes be a bit dangerous for me ) What do Anathema think of this album? I bet they think it is the best thing they have ever done.

I am sure a lot of you know I am half of the teen pop sensation Salander. Just this week we have finished the recording of our yet untitled new album. Depending on how long it takes to finish the mixing, it could be out in the next few weeks. We had some fantastic reviews for our last album ( thanks Brad ) but we never felt we were competing with it when recording the new one. However, as each new track was recorded there was this feeling that it was the best thing we had ever done. As an artist I think you will always feel this because each new track is fresh and in the moment. But as a consumer I will always compare to my favourite songs. Tony Banks said that he preferred the songs Genesis recorded later in their existence to their earlier work. Hang on….you think Invisible Touch is better than Suppers Ready!! But as an artist you have to think that way or you might as well not record anything else. As a consumer I will always have my favourites to compare to. As an artist I want to experiment and come up with something new. As a consumer I want familiarity.

Just because I think that Anathema’s new album isn’t as good as WHBWH doesn’t make it a bad album. As I said, there are some great moments on it. But its the best album Anathema thinks Anathema has made. And fair play to them.