Review: Anchor & Braille – The Quiet Life

Anchor & Braille - The Quiet Life

It’s kind of funny that Anchor & Braille’s second album is titled The Quiet Life, since it’s anything but. While this collection of songs isn’t as in your face as Stephen Christian’s other band Anberlin, his latest effort with his side project is incredibly vibrant and varied. After proving that this project wasn’t just a retread of slower Anberlin-esque songs with his 2009 debut Felt, Christian’s eclectic musical interests is all over The Quiet Life. Reuniting with his other band’s former label Tooth & Nail, The Quiet Life takes what worked on Felt, refined it, and added in some new twists and turns to create one of the best releases Christian has ever been a part of.

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Review: Anchor & Braille – Felt

Anchor & Braille – Felt

You have to give Stephen Christian credit – the man is far from your typical rock star. Of course he is best known for his work with scene staples Anberlin, but Christian has a degree in psychology, has written a book, co-founded a non-profit organization, and is in general a supremely nice guy. So when he accumulated a pile of songs that didn’t quite fit what Anberlin was doing, it makes sense that Stephen wouldn’t take the easy way out. He could certainly tweak the songs enough so they could be peppered amongst future Anberlin releases, but rather than compromise the cohesiveness of those works and the integrity of these compositions, Christian instead decided to give them a proper release under the Anchor & Braille moniker. This was by no means some hasty, overnight project. It is a true labor of love that has been in progress (in some form or another) for almost a decade, and with the quality of Felt, it shows.

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