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Anberlin Finds Light in the Dark

Posted Sep 3, 2010 by Clarisa Gerlach

Updated Sep 3, 2010 at 12:25 PM

(Anberlin plays an in-store concert at 7 p.m. tonight (Friday, Sept. 3) at Vinyl Fever, 4110 Henderson Blvd., Tampa. Admission is free but limited because the store only holds so many people, people. Pre-ordering Anberlin’s new album will earn a spot toward the front of the line. Call (813) 289-8399 or go to www.vinylfevertampa.com for more details.)

In fact, the band, whose members hail from the Tampa and Lakeland area, planned their latest album, “Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place,” as a complete work from the get-go.

The album will be released Tuesday, Sept. 7.

“We sat down and said here’s the direction we want to go in,” Christian says by telephone from his home in Nashville, where he has lived for about a year.

“The main thing is we want people to be moved by this record,” Christian says, “not just by a pop sensibility or choruses that get stuck in your head, but by the entire record.

“We wanted to make an album that fits together, a record that people will listen to in 25 years,“ Christians says.

Not that the band has abandoned pop sensibility or catchy choruses, as first single “Impossible” proves.

But the music, Christian says, is “more dark and heavy, not just from distortion, just from the weight of the music.”

The lyrics, in contrast, are more positive, and the combination is reflected in the album’s title, taken from poet Dylan Thomas’ “Poem on His Birthday.”

“It’s almost like this perfect contradiction that only Dylan Thomas could describe in such eloquently perfect words,” Christian says.

The band began playing the Tampa and Lakeland area in the late ‘90s as SaGoh 24/7 before changing its name to Anberlin and releasing its debut album, “Blueprints for the Black Market,” in 2002.

“Never Take Friendship Personal” and “Cities” followed in 2005 and 2007, respectively, before the band signed with major-label Universal for 2008’s “New Surrender.”

That album brought Anberlin its first major radio hit with “Feel Good Drag,” a re-recorded version of a song from “Never Take Friendship Personal.” The success was hard earned.

“The last record was quite stressful,” Christian says. “We got on new label, got a new producer, a new member (Christian McAlhaney replaced Nathan Strayer). It was a very stressful record to write.”

“Dark Is the Way” was a far more pleasant experience, Christian says, due in part to the presence of producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC).

“He perfectly understood that we were trying to make a timeless record,” Christian says.

To the band’s amazement, O’Brien sought them out, “which was shocking,” Christian says.

“We’re on our bus in Atlanta and knocking on the door was Brendan O’Brien saying he wanted to do the rest of our records from here on out,” Christian says.

“Our decision was clear,” Christian says. “He’s a genius. He’s taken out band to the next level.”

Anberlin also features lead guitarist Joseph Milligan, bassist Deon Rexroat and drummer Nathan Young.