According to the press release, “Anecdata is the sole work of one nerdy guy holed up in his West Auckland bedroom. Everything – from writing to production, mixing and mastering – is done completely independently. Whether that’s by choice, he’s not sure. Probably not.” Originally conceived as a single album, during the recording process Dan realised it was getting a little big, so made the decision to release it as two separate albums along with loads of additional tracks. They were released a few months apart, but due to my backlog it meant I was sent the second just as I was about to review the first, and given they were recorded at the same time, with the second being a continuation of the story started in the first, it makes sense to put them together as one review.
It is a concept album telling the story of a young woman sent on a journey through time after a New Years Eve party at Stonehenge goes horribly wrong, and musically combines darkwave, indie, synthpop and new wave with a very large nod towards the Eighties and bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, Gary Numan and even some Bauhaus and Thompson Twins. I must confess that for the most part I can happily pass all those bands by, and apart from music I have been sent to review, I am sure I have never owned any material by any of them as it is just not my preference. Consequently, the first time I played Part 1 I didn’t like it at all, nor the second, although it started to grow on me a little with the third, and possibly this is why I was better attuned to what was going on when I heard Part 2 as that was more immediate, and also allowed me to go back and revisit Part 1 in a better frame of mind.
I have actually played these albums far more than I normally would before reviewing, due to spending a lot of time working outside and playing music as opposed to writing about it, and here it has worked very well for Dan, as Anecdata were alphabetically at the beginning of the playlist! This style of music is not something I generally play, but this never sounds as if it was recorded in a bedroom, as it is polished and definitely has a speak within. However, I am not a fan of the demos and early recordings which have been added to the versions I am listening to. Yes, in each case it more than doubles the length of each album, but I don’t think it really adds anything. Mind you, that is just my personal taste, and they can easily be removed if the listener is not interested.
Dan has put both these albums up on Bandcamp as “name your price”, and if this style of music is of interest, then I highly recommend you give them a listen. There is also a significant back catalogue, which I have not investigated myself, but if you enjoy these then there is plenty more to find.
Rating: 7/10