When it comes to classifying a band’s music, it seems to be that everybody’s go-to-genre is “unclassifiable.” Very seldom, though, does that title actually fit. For the Miami duo, Awesome New Republic, it might just be about right. Comprised of Brian Robertson and Michael-John Hancock (who met while students at University of Miami School of Music), the band doesn’t pull that same simple, stripped-down trick that most twosomes so often do. Instead, ANR rely on something almost unexpected from a pair: they create songs that are complex, intricate, and downright lush.
Much of this complexity, intricacy, and downright lushness is due to the band’s frequent genre-hopping. ANR takes bits and pieces to make nips and tucks at the seams of dance, shoegazer, jazz, folk, and whatever else possible (and often in the same song). The glue of this mishmash are Robertson’s deep, almost-soulful vocals that verge on having a pretty damn good kitsch factor from the you-can’t-be-serious (but-you-might-just-be) lyrics he seems to spout so easily. It’s a confusing, tangled mess that works because ANR delivers it with a level of aplomb and a dash of irony.
In October 2005, ANR packaged their unusual, eclectic sound in ANR So Far on DIY label Sutro/Stem Sell Recordings. Most of the tracks were found on previous self-released efforts, and the album managed to #176 on CMJ 200 Charts. Unfortunately, ANR So Far might just become ANR’s swan song. Recently, the band announced on their website that their May 20th show will mark the end of the duo. While it may be all over for now, these Miami kids proved that unclassifiable, unusual rock isn’t a title stretched to fit every new indie rock outfit who records something in their bedroom; that sometimes, it might be just the right size to begin with.
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May 1st, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I love your writing style. So informative and clever! Rock on Kelly, welcome aboard!