ANBERLIN// Lowborn

Anberlin: Lowborn
(Tooth & Nail Records)

Anberlin’s final record goes like how you feel when things end. It’s like re-reading love notes until they are burnt into you because goodbyes are sometimes tangled in the ‘why’ and not the ‘it’s time to move on, let me go’. Inclusive and warming with a disquieting tone and that deft lyrical touch that is trademark Anberlin, Lowborn is some of their smartest writing. It tackles the passages of time and, most importantly (and sadly as this is their final record), the spontaneous fits of inspiration. The pensive meanderings and linguistic flight of fancy admit defeat on Stranger Ways (come on and leave me here, I’m a vagabond though, wandering the night alone/stranger things have happened/stronger men have answered). Insistent on not making excuses for the end and taking a humble final bow instead, Stephen Christian summarises Anberlin’s history on Atonement: “All the questions you have are explained and answered in that one song. It’s our final sentiment.” Lowborn is the last hurrah and a burnt love note to over a decade of potent musicianship from a band that has never lost its relevance.

For fans of: Emery, Switchfoot, The Almost.

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