Sixty Stories - Anthem Red

Sixty Stories
Anthem Red
Smallman Records/The Company with the Golden Arm/Hopeless Records Distro
Grade: A-

Anthem Red is a re-release of Sixty Stories' first full-length that came out last October. Sixty Stories formed in the fall of 1999 with Paul Furgale (formerly of Painted Thin) on drums and backing vocals, Jo Snyder on guitar and vocals and Kelly Martin on bass. By 2001, Sixty Stories were touring across Canada with bands such as Propagandhi and opening for Fugazi and Samiam. Since then, they released a split CD with Painted Thin on Smallman Records and have toured extensively in Canada as well as some time in Germany. Going into the studio to record this record, they had a personal change when Sarah Sangster took over on bass and backing vocals.

Anthem Red starts off with slow keyboards moving to heavy bass, drums and vocals before going into the crux of the song on "Countdown." The ballsy vocals by Jo Snyder and the right backing vocals from bassist Sarah Sangster with the mix of keyboards make this a sweet song. By far and away, this is the best song on the record and is likely to get some serious spins at college stations if not more. Unfortunately, the album takes a distinct downward turn after this epic opening number. This is not to say that the rest of the record is bad or anything like that. It is just that the rest of the songs are not as impressionistic as "Countdown" and some fall into mildly generic renditions and plays on existing material. The second song "First Bell," though, does excel in uniqueness with a strong foundation of keyboards and a powerful chorus based on the title. One problem with a number of the other tracks is that there is a very similar parallel to Weezer. I had to triple-check to make sure that "Second Hand Table & Chairs" was not some cover of a Weezer song. The verse of the song sounds exactly like it is cribbed from Weezer. To lesser extent this is true of "Jessica" and "Less of Me." "It's So Touching" and "Quit My Job" are nice deviations of sound on the record where Sixty Stories employ a more uptempo punk beat that is matched with quicker vocals by Snyder. Anthem Red is rounded out by "Wet Cement" and "Anthem Red." "Wet Cement" contains some great guitar work on the intro and throughout the bridges, while "Anthem Red" has a harmonious chorus of "written in anthem red."

Though there are some inconsistencies on Anthem Red, there is no doubt that you will hear a lot from Sixty Stories in the near and far future.