19-year-old Adam Baker, the leader of Annuals, shows a hell of a lot of maturity on this album. A 12-song and 50-minute romp through a variety of musical influences - which range from Animal Collective to Broken Social Scene - there's a sense of pomp and majesty here which belies the band's youth and musical inexperience. For a six-piece Annuals are eclectic and interesting, 'Complete or Completing' seems to drift along effortlessly with a whole range of instrumentation, while 'Brother' sets the tone well.
There's pedal steel, acoustic guitar, xylophone and even the sound of crickets which makes this a worthy listen alone, even if it is a difficult record to get your head around on first listen. 'Carry Around' moves toward Flaming Lips, while the vocals sometimes veer towards Jack Johnson territory, should you be looking for some kind of mainstream comparison. All in all, this is an excitable and varied record which deserves a listen. Eclectic and interesting, Annuals will probably be near the top of the critic's polls come the end of the year.
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