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September 5, 2008

Annuals' Such Fun Album Art

thumbnail icon: Annuals' Such Fun Album Art

Annuals full-length followup to Be He Me also includes trees on its cover, but these look happier. They look like the happiest trees (and clouds) ever because the painting's a Bob Ross original. You should already know about the gentle permed artiste and his Joy Of Painting PBS show without that Wikipedia link -- because he's awesome. The band explains their decision to bedeck Such Fun with one of his speedy made-on-tv landscapes:

The way that Bob made his paintings, and the way he paints in particular, is pretty similar to the way that our band makes a record. Bob Ross starts his paintings with simple little smudges and blotches, making "happy trees" or "cute little bridges," and he seems to be having "such fun" doing it. But when it's finished, and his blotches take form, we see that his paintings are actually intricate landscapes -- layer on top of layer of what are seemingly a bunch of fun, whimsical drawings are actually quite complicated. Continuing this dichotomy, it seems like all of the happy, lovely places he paints always have a bit of sad loneliness and isolation to them too, and some of the songs on our new album can definitely relate to that duality.

Soak it up:

Here's the album's opener for you to take on your next hike:

Annuals - "Confessor" (MP3)

Such Fun is out 10/7 on Canvasback. The next day, Annuals head out on tour with Minus the Bear (and the occasional guest, where noted):

10/08 - Spokane, WA - Service Station #
10/09 - Missoula, MT - The Other Side#
10/11 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre #
10/12 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown #
10/13 - Iowa City, IA - The Picador #
10/15 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre #
10/16 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall #
10/17 - Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre #
10/18 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall #
10/19 - Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre Center #
10/20 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop $
10/21 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theatre
10/22 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10/23 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
10/24 - Providence, RI - Lupo's at the Strand
10/25 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
10/26 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
10/28 - Richmond, VA - The National
10/29 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
10/30 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel
10/31 - Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre
11/01 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
11/03 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution !
11/04 - Lake Buena Vista, FL - House of Blues !
11/05 - Jacksonville, FL - Freebird Café !
11/07 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues !
11/08 - Houston, TX - House of Blues !
11/09 - Austin, TX - Waterloo Park (Fun Fun Fun Fest) !
11/10 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues !
11/12 - Santa Fe, NM - TBA
11/13 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre !
11/14 - San Diego, CA - Soma @
11/15 - Pomona, CA - Glass House @
11/16 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre @
11/18 - Sacramento, CA - Empire @
11/19 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's @

# w/ Themes
$ w/ with the New Year
! w/ 27
@ w/ Helms Alee

[Photo by Autumn de Wilde]

Posted at 9:39 AM by brandon in ,
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8 Comments

Am I really the only one who is excited about this? Be He Me was hella underrated. Even the b-sides were stellar.

Posted by: mike profile link at 09/05/08 10:45 AM | Reply
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you are definitely not the only one! i am super psyched!
i have to say though - if i didn't hear their reasoning behind the album art, i would think it was pretty boring.

Posted by: terroreesa profile link in reply to mike's comment at 09/05/08 11:14 AM | Reply
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corwood

brilliant, i did not know there is a second album on the horizon. yay.

Posted by: corwood profile link at 09/05/08 11:56 AM | Reply
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i don't like this band cause the ginger bass player freaks me out

Posted by: matt at 09/05/08 12:26 PM | Reply
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These guys are pretty impressive.. way underrated like Mike said..

..plus, they're coming to Knoxville! No one comes here, so I'm stoked to see someone I actually enjoy hitting up the Bijou.

Posted by: Flargimmer profile link at 09/05/08 3:25 PM | Reply
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I love Be He Me, but I am a little worried (but mostly excited) about the new album. Confessor does not have the texture that made Be He Me. It is still a pretty good song, but it doesn't have a lot of personality.

Posted by: hutch at 09/05/08 4:58 PM | Reply
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That album art is like every picture in every hotel room across america.

Posted by: jayfarer at 09/05/08 7:49 PM | Reply
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hey isn't that one of the default Windows XP desktop wallpapers?

Posted by: erik at 09/06/08 4:49 AM | Reply
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