Ruth
Anorak

Campus Correspondent Review By Chad Comello,
North Central College

When understanding an album title requires the use of a dictionary, the album will either be brilliant or boring. Sadly, in the case of Ruth’s Anorak, it’s the latter. Most of the time this is a lazy criticism, but it’s true in this case: all the songs on Anorak sound the same: the guitar, the drums, everything. There is nothing to distinguish one song from another; the tempos vary little and lead singer’s Dustin Ruth’s vocals stay in the same range for all of the album’s 34 minutes.

Even the song titles lack inspiration (though, the title of the swinging “Forgetting to Remember” serves as an apt synecdoche for the album itself). But it’s not all bad: “Back to the Five” has a nice vocal hook and “Miracle Photo” is a welcome acoustic deviation from the blur of driving guitars. That’s about it. The band’s MySpace page describes their music as “dreamy, airy guitar-driven indie pop.” Substitute “dreamy” with “monotonous” and “airy” with “stuffy” and you’ve got it just about right.

Ultimately, Anorak ends up being a whole lot of nothing. That’s not to detract from the effort put into making the record; it’s just that together the eleven tunes on the Washington four-piece’s sophomore release inspire no feelings in the positive or the negative. They are just there and that’s simply not enough.