Album Review: Anya Marina "Felony Flats"

For someone so seemingly mired in obscurity from the popular consensus, Anya Marina has forged her music into the ears of the masses as her music has been featured on numerous television sitcom soundtracks including, most recently, the “New Moon” film soundtrack.

Throughout her extensive career Anya has released three albums including her most recent Felony Flats. As I delved into the opening tracks, which were filled with raw and unhinged guitars, infectious choruses, and macho vocals, I couldn’t help but find myself wishing I were cruising my way across some old, forgotten desert highway in a 70’s model convertible. I wish I could have stayed on that desert highway throughout the remainder of the album but unfortunately reality isn’t that sublime. The problem that had befallen me lay within the musical threading of the rest of the tracks. I couldn’t help but feel I had stumbled upon a scenario in which Anya had taken the thread of her favorite musicians and woven it into her own music. Take “Believe Me I Believe” which is reminiscent of an old “Chrystal Method” tune and “Hot Button” sounds like a play on the “Beatles.” The rest of the album is much in the same manner bouncing from one area of musical design to another. Now some fans may say it’s an innovative step in exploring the boundaries of ones musical perception and they might be right if she was talented enough to incorporate those sounds while maintaining the integrity of her own music. The problem is she isn’t yet talented enough to make that step, or maybe it isn’t even that she doesn’t have the talent but rather she doesn’t have the musical maturity yet to blend her music with that of others without making you forget about Anya. Before I completely thrash this album let me say there were songs, as in the opening, in which Anya was at the forefront and it was blissful. I can only hope Anya packs this album away and returns to her own musical identity in her future releases.  

Overall Rating: 2/5

Best Tracks: Body Knows Best, Notice Me