by #LizPublika
California based singer-songwriter Eric Anders started his music career in the early 2000s. Over the years, he carved out a niche for himself as one of the voices of the “resistance" — first to the Bush administration and now to the current one. Released in April 2017, his latest work Eleven Nine is a somber and contemplative album that clearly reflects his thoughts about the political climate in the United States. In other words, it’s not for everybody.
Fusing elements of pop and folk, Anders’ music highlights his strong opinions by allowing his voice to take center stage. Similar to Bob Dylan or Paul Simon, he relies on expressive and thought provoking content that sets him apart from other contemporary artists. From this perspective, he offers an intellectually stimulating narrative that many listeners may find appealing — but only if they hold similar political views.
From an auditory standpoint, however, Eleven Nine may appeal to a much more diverse base of listeners. Fluctuating between calm and mildly aggressive, the melodies provide a bit of range in arrangement and tempo. Featuring percussion and guitars, most of the music has an indie feel with slight hints of country influence. It perfectly offsets the lyrics by providing a lot of background sound when the message becomes overpowering.
Mixed and produced by Matt Brown, the ten-track album features guitarists Jeff Fielder (of Mark Lanegan fame) and Tyler Nuffer. “A Man for No Season,” “How Low and Why,” “So Wrong,” “Looking Forward to Your Fall,” and “Big World Abide” were recycled from previous works and lyrically updated for relevance. But the album also includes two covers and three original songs, which are “Inside the Sacrifice Zone,” “Do You Feel” and “This Fire has Burned Too Long.”
Although the album may be a little conceptually heavy, it would be wrong to call it overtly preachy or particularly polarizing. As such, Eleven Nine is a well executed political lament that will find its own audience as well as its own critics. Regardless, all proceeds from album sales will be donated to Lambda Legal, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of the LGBT community and people living with HIV.
Note* Album provided for objective review by our partners.