Anathallo shows strength in pride and numbers in Chicago

November 8, 2008, at Schubas

By Selena Fragassi
Published: November 11th, 2008 | 12:05pm

“That song took me from here to there,” said Anathallo lead singer Matt Joynt as he waved his hand from his knees to his head, describing his reaction to hearing this year’s hip-hop anthem for the first time: “T.I. taught me I can have whatever I like.”

From modest beginnings in a sleepy Michigan town, to touring the country in a green Dodge Caravan, a permanent residency at a Chicago church, eight memorable albums, a gig at Coachella, and an impending tour across Europe and Japan, it’s clear that the seven members of Anathallo have gotten everything they like in recent years. Most recently, the chance to come home for a sold-out show the same week as Barack Obama was elected the 44th president, a monumental feat that no doubt paved the way for everyone, big or small, black or white, to have whatever they like — even an indie band called Anathallo.

“Next record, we’re gonna take it to the top,” said Joynt, high on the Chicago fumes of pride. “We’re gonna go platinum, be on Columbia and have so many guitars. Yes we can!”

While Joynt was able to spin the band’s difficulties reaching commercial appeal into a comic aside, its recent release, Canopy Glow (Anticon), is nothing to laugh at. Filled with moody compositions that peak and collapse with the gridiron force of a small, instrumental army battling convention, each art-inspired track is as impressionistic as it is surrealistic. Especially when performed in the gallery space of Chicago’s Schubas Tavern on a cold November night.

Anathallo, in Greek, means “to renew, refresh, or bloom again,” a definition that perfectly aligned with the feeling of the night as the band romanced the crowd with passionate performances of “Italo,” “All the First Pages,” and “The River,” the stage bursting at the seams with an equal number of people and instruments.

While crowded in space, each member was careful not to crowd one another’s talent as the combination of guitars, harmonicas, keyboards, drums, shakers, and a wailing horn section paired together like a seasoned orchestra that was at times eerie and other times mystical. No more was this apparent than on the vocal chemistry of the group, broadened by the harmonization of Joynt and only female member Erica Froman, who recalled the eloquence of the Swell Season’s Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova on the powerful rendition of “Northern Lights,” after which someone in the audience asked if the band ever played weddings. While meant as a joke, no one could deny the fact that this holy union of sound made for a stunning parting gift as everyone put on their coats and departed into the cold Chicago night, still warm with pride.