Send "Anathallo " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pastemagazine |
 Sufjan Stevens propped open the door to the marching-band practice room earlier this decade, and since then several of his band-camp compatriots have strutted out onto the wider field of popular music. Chicago septet Anathallo is at the head of this geeky class, and the band upholds its reputation on sophomore album Canopy Glow.Like its predecessor, 2006’s Floating World, the band’s latest album mixes sensitive folkie singer/songwriter fare with strings, horns and all manner of hand percussion, creating a dizzying and frequently gorgeous mashup that splits the difference between Animal Collective, the Salvation Army band and the neighborhood glee club. It’s the same approach Stevens has employed so masterfully on albums such as Illinois, but there are some important differences. First, everybody sings, and although guitarist/pianist Matt Joynt and autoharp player Erica Froman handle the lion’s share of the vocals, there’s a marked emphasis on choral harmony that’s mostly absent from Stevens’ albums. Second, almost everybody bangs or pulls on something—bass drums, glockenspiels, Velcro, balloons—and there’s a primal rhythmic focus here that nicely offsets the egghead sensibilities. I’d call it an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach, but the members of Anathallo are probably inclined to bang on the kitchen sink, too....full text |
| Lostatsea |
| Indie music of the mid-to-late 2000s will be remembered as a genre infatuated by orchestration. Some groups have been defined by it, others have drowned in it. As of late, it seems the road to indie fame is paved with glockenspiel solos. There is a problem however, namely in sincerity. As artists of the indie spectrum seek a sound more unconventional, something with which to differentiate them from other unique acts, they often employ unconventional instruments, ones not typically used outside of say, classical baroque composition. And then it becomes an issue of necessity: does the harpsichord (or viola ensemble or autoharp, et cetera) really enhance the music, or does it act to camouflage mediocrity? Does it genuinely serve a purpose in the arrangement or is it merely a distraction? Anathallo, the Chicago-based septet, brings the quirk with their latest release, Canopy Glow. Sure to draw comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and Architecture in Helsinki, the group's whimsical instrumentals and cadenced vocals amount to likable indie-pop that, to put it mildly, favors movement over stagnancy. Offering buoyant rhythms and a propensity for acapella-inspired accompaniment, the collective (complete with flugelhornist!) delivers textured pieces with intensity....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Anathallo’s sophomore release, Canopy Glow, leaves a feeling of something left undone. This album thematically concerned with death may describe a life unfinished: a life where great destinations sat on the horizon like an unreachable oasis. Like a snow-capped mountain on the highest windswept… you get the idea. These sentiments are the kind of wide-eyed wonderment Anathallo trades in, even when riffing on the darkest of concepts, on an occasionally intriguing but ultimately derivative album. Canopy Glow offers several contradictions at the outset. For an album with a corpse on the front cover, the music is unexpectedly sunny. Bright horns bleat and cheery choruses swell and seem to remind us that death brings salvation. Although Anathallo has struggled to break from the “Christian band” tag, their music and imagery continues to revolve around existential/religious themes. The fact that hip-hop label Anticon released this album is another strange disconnection. Anathallo doesn’t exactly mesh with the other artists on Anticon. This isn’t necessarily a problem per se, but it does present questions of intent on both sides of the arrangement. ...full text |
Anathallo lyrics
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