The Truth Is That You Are Alive

Things are looking up for An Angle. Having waded through the mire of two lackluster, somewhat mopey releases, Kris Anaya and friends seem to have finally struck firm ground with their third album. Make no mistake: there's still a good deal of naval gazing on The Truth Is That You Are Alive. The key difference here is in the approach; Anaya just seems more grown up. The watery, self-absorbed meandering that characterized his earlier work has more or less evaporated, and the songs themselves are more confident, fully realized, and enjoyable. On top of all this, Anaya's pulled further away from the angst-ridden influences that dominated his two previous albums; there's less Conor Oberst, less Elliott Smith, and more of his own wry, half-grinning self. The odd thing is, it turns out that Anaya's actually a pretty optimistic guy, even when he's singing about death. Heck, he's even romantic! "In my heart I've got a sad, sad song," he sings, "But for tonight, my love, I'm fallin' in your arms." The Truth is more or less an album's worth of no-frills indie rock/pop pricked here and there with sparkly glockenspiel-and-tambourine quirkiness, and at times it's difficult to discern what An Angle is doing that other indie groups haven't done before. But even if Anaya and the gang don't sound utterly original, there's still something genuinely infectious about the way they bellow their way through exuberant tracks like "Clean and Gold." The main event on The Truth is Anaya's newfound maturity as a songwriter; his ability to craft subtle, touching, and funny stories is ultimately what makes this disc worth returning to. It might have a few small cracks and fissures, but The Truth feels like a real beginning for An Angle. ~ Margaret Reges