When Anberlin front man Stephen Christian realized he had written a substantive amount of material that the hard rock Anberlin could not play, he naturally found an outlet for it. What stemmed from a lifetime of artistic creations is the project titled Anchor & Braille. Anchor & Braille was originally going to be collaboration between Christian and Copeland’s front man Aaron Marsh. However, Marsh quickly stepped away from a main role in the project to focus on Copeland and instead acted as a co-producer on the album Felt.
What obviously sets Anchor & Braille and Felt apart from Anberlin is the vast contrast in sound. When composing for A & B Christian focuses on a more placid indie sound that is achieved through the use of acoustic guitars, keyboards, and pianos. Christian also tunes down his vocals for the tracks on Felt, achieving a sound comparable to Copeland, Lydia, and Craig Owens. Aaron Marsh clearly had a strong influence on the direction of this album and allowed Christian to transition from the powerful rock sound of Anberlin to the docile, melodic tune of Anchor & Braille.
Felt, as a first album, holds it own in the ambient rock sub genre. Released by Wood Water Records, the album acts as a testament to Christian’s musical talent and the work on the album is some of Christian’s most mature. The material covered is more personal; Christian seems to be revealing more of himself to the audience. He has had time to grow under the Anberlin name, while allowing himself to branch out musically and enter into other subgenres with poise and success.
This past summer Anchor & Braille toured on Copeland’s US tour with Sherwood, Meese and Barcelona before Christian had to tour with Anberlin in Australia. Currently, work on Anchor & Braille is on hiatus as Christian prepares to enter the studio with Anberlin to begin creating the band’s newest album. However, I would not be surprised to see Christian come back to Anchor & Braille in the future to reveal a little more to his fans and embrace his talent for the indie genre.
For Fans Of: Copeland, Craig Owens, Lydia
Fri, Jan 1, 2010
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