Three years after the release of their self-titled album, Say Anything has swooped back in the music scene with their fifth studio album, Anarchy, My Dear. After parting ways with RCA Records in 2010 and doing a barrage of side projects, lead singer Max Bemis announced that they had signed to Equal Vision Records and would be working with Tim O’Heir, who produced their most popular album …Is a Real Boy. This set high expectations for Anarchy, My Dear: expectations that were happily met.
Things are different this time around though: Say Anything didn’t make …Is a Real Boy 2, but instead a more truthful and mature sounding album. Max Bemis has grown and matured as a person; he’s happily married to Sherri Dupree (from the band Eisley), he’s kicked his drug habits, and his outlook on life has changed. This isn’t to say that he’s lost his angst and self-loathing that we’ve all come to love; he’s just more aware of it. With his newfound knowledge and outlook on the world, Bemis has incorporated everything from rebellion to love, urging his listeners to forget the cynics and haters, and just to do what makes them happy, in an array of songs that are too good not to listen too.
This ideal emerges immediately at the start of the album, in the first song and first single “Burn a Miracle”. Opening with a strong hand-clap anthem the song moves on to dual-guitars, with a rebellious chorus telling listeners to “burn a miracle if you’ve got a soul” and “burn America”. The album continues with quirky rock songs and acoustic laden love songs until the song “Admit It Again!” A sequel to the popular song “Admit It!!!” off of …Is a Real Boy, “Admit It Again!” is a song full of fury, rant, and intellectual insults against those who think they’re above everyone else, only this time it focuses more on those who hated the band when they didn’t produce a …Is a Real Boy 2. While seemingly not as strong and rocky as “Admit It!”, the song still grabs attention with its clever lyrics and a sing-along chorus, something that is constantly present in the album. Bemis shows his songwriting ability in a number of songs on the album; including “Peace Out” with the lyrics “You snort a line of syphilis and run the marathon/ Your mentally deficient friends just ask you what you’re on” and the title track “Anarchy, My Dear” with the lyrics “You coat me in blasphemy, well once I was so blind/the beauty and the spacious skies, with boundaries undefined.”
Another addition to the album is the presence of Bemis’s wife Sherri Dupree-Bemis in a number of songs, including “So Good” and “Overbiter”, where Bemis and Dupree exchange vocals over a dancy piano beat that is quickly becoming the album’s most popular song.
Overall, Anarchy, My Dear is just what true Say Anything fans needed. With an album that showcases a variety of musical styles and rebellion, Say Anything has released what is just enough to shake up and excite their fans, reminding them that it’s not about following what you’re told, but about finding the rebellion within and releasing it in flames.