Track listing: Could Have Always Shouted, In The Doorway, Misery Loves Company, I've Never Been With A Girl Like You, Breathe, Whatever Lifestyle, Up To Speed, You're Busted, I'm Dumb
Anselmo, formerly known as Johnny Void, has released his latest solo effort entitled Could Have Always Shouted. The video of the same name for the lead-off single is also out for your viewing pleasure. This album is the first in two years from the Orlando-based artist, and shows off his emotions, passions, and offhand social commentary in a nostalgic raw musical form.
It harkens back to a happier, or at least more genuine, period in the music industry. Think on that wonderfully innocent, angsty period of music in the 90s where a sub-genre blew up that wasn't quite punk, grunge, pop-punk, or rock 'n' roll. But it was huge--in the vein of Reality Bites or Empire Records, or just not as main stream. Maybe more along the lines of what some of the customers in Championship Vinyl, John Cusack's store in High Fidelity, may have been into. The simplified and honest sound you heard in bits of Soul Asylum work during that era.
My first thought is "punk." But some of Anselmo's lyrics aren't as rebellious as the Punks. "I've Never Been With A Girl Like You" is downright sweet--the melodies pleasing, the guitar tones clean and smooth as silk until the intensity of the chorus kicks in...and even then the distortion is overdriven to the point of fuzz (as opposed to a jagged, cutting, dirty distortion). "Breathe" takes on a similar idyllic sentiment. Makes me want to catch an indie movie at midnight at the local arthouse.
What is utterly punk are the arrangements. The songs stick and move at a high clip, ranging from "Up To Speed"'s 1:21 to the songs longest track "Misery Loves Company" that clocks in at a whopping 2:43. That's fuckin' punk rock.
Whatever you want to call it, though, and whatever nostalgia surfaces inside--or maybe none does at all for you--Anselmo's getting some thoughts off his chest with "Could Have Always Shouted." He taps into regret, longing, sadness, hope...many of the emotions that come along on the ride of life with us whether we want them to or not. So if you experience any of these emotions and are looking for a collection of songs that captures some of these feelings in succinct poppy punky musical capsules, try following Anselmo via Instagram, Spotify, and YouTube. Like, Follow, Subscribe. Do all those good things.