A lot has changed in the two years since Tucson rock group Annie
Jump Cannon last performed, especially
for a band so aligned with youthful energy and anger. Aside from the pandemic
and all its upending of the music industry, the trio signed to national label No
Sleep Records, shuffled some members,
and recorded a new album. Fans of the
local punk and indie scene can hear the
new album performed live on the same
day it releases when Annie Jump Can-
non takes the stage at downtown’s Club
Congress on Friday, March 4.
The new album, Flourishing Apart,
expands nearly everything from their
debut album, 2020’s Worst Day Ever. Not
only are the instrumentals and production stronger, the album revolves around
a more robust concept. But perhaps most
important, the songs cover broader styles.
While Flourishing Apart still has a solid
foundation in punk and emo —fitting
snugly within the No Sleep roster —the
album also has more relaxed and acoustic
songs.
“The diversity comes from my writing
process, because I don’t try to fit into a
style when I write songs,” said vocalist
and guitarist Rory Membrila. “It’s just
however it ends up sounding. And I think
with the last song, which is acoustic, I was
listening to a lot of older stuff like Ella
Fitzgerald and songs from the ’50s, so I
pulled a lot of inspiration from that.”
The album orbits a lost relationship
from the opening line: “you can call and
we can talk.” The first track begins as a
sparse acoustic song, but more powerful
guitar strokes and layered vocals gradually add energy before the whole thing
takes off on the line “I can’t protect you
when I’m the one who needs protecting.” Though Membrila says most of the
album is “love and breakup songs,” there
are plenty of humorous and inwardly
pointed lines, like “I don’t ever want to
have a baby, because then I’ll have to stop
being a baby.”
Further into the tracklist, the themes
reach into various types of relationships.
There are also references to the general
unease of the past few years, including
mention of the Bighorn Fire that burnt
thousands of acres around Tucson in
summer 2020. Membrila says the album’s
songs were written over multiple years,
with some of them “a long time coming.”
However, thanks to a fairly consistent
musical tone, these lyrics still manage to
feel connected to a central concept.
“It’s about a pretty specific relationship.
But it’s funny, because the line I pulled
‘flourishing apart’ from wasn’t about a
relationship with a significant other,”
Membrila said. “I had originally written
it about my siblings. But so many of the
songs are love songs or breakup songs
mostly about a specific someone. But
other songs are about relationships in
general or the relationship with myself.”
A clear standout is “Moth,” a subdued
pop song that works as a kind of palate
cleanser in the middle of the album.
Muted guitars and tight drums work well
to accompany the imagery of lovers as
a moth and light. The song also features
some of Membrila’s best vocal work on
the album, jumping between high and
low registers with ease.
Annie Jump Cannon, which takes their
name from an 1800s astronomer, recorded Flourishing Apart in New Jersey
in October 2020. The album features
Membrila on vocals and guitar, their
brother Logan on bass, and Jake Cowen
on drums. The band was between lead
guitarists for the recording session, so
that duty was split up.
“I played some lead on the album, but I
don’t consider myself someone who can
shred on guitar,” Membrila said. “So it
was really good to have Chris Freeman
from Hot Mulligan co-produce the album,
because we worked together on leads and
played some of them… Getting signed
was a game-changer for us.”
Flourishing Apart releases on the same
day as the Hotel Congress show. Also on
the roster that night are fellow Tucson
rockers The Sinks and Flagsta band
Tiny Bird.
“There’s just been a lot of maturing
since our first album, both in our music
and ourselves. And honestly, there’s been
plenty of maturing since Flourishing
Apart and now,” Membrila said. “I don’t
even know what the next album is going
to be about, because it used to be so easy
to write angsty or self-deprecating songs,
but honestly I’m doing pretty good right
now.”
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2022.