Anyone who thinks the phrase “it’s all been done before” carries real weight clearly has yet to encounter Fair to Midland. Dark, heavy, moving, cryptic, progressive art rock collides with flourishes of old-school country, Americana and Delta Blues in their sound. These Lonestar boys' genre-defying and boundary obliterating ocean of sound righteously upends the old phrase “fair to middling” from which their Texas-ified moniker was drawn.
Arrows & Anchors, the five-piece band’s first album in partnership with eOne Music, is meaner, sadder and altogether more desperate of an affair than its predecessors. “It’s a very bitter album,” offers vocalist Darroh Sudderth. “The last album had some light at the end of the tunnel in some of the subject matter. This one doesn’t have that quite so much.”
This particularly invigorating yet undeniably gut-wrenching collection of songs is the product of a string of years of career strife since the group last poked their head into magazines and record shops. Arrows and Anchors follows a change in record label, a change in management and one (“maybe two,” Sudderth laughs) changes in booking agent. All of that change and upheaval definitely played a role in the creative process; artistic lemonade from business lemons.
There has never been a lack of faith from the diehard admirers who have steadily adopted the band as their own in growing numbers since Fair to Midland’s initial pair of self-released albums, The Carbon Copy Silver Lining (2001) and inter.funda.stifle (2004). Both were explorations into the furthest reaches of the musical psyche that earned them praise from critics, fans and fellow musicians. Fair to Midland are a true “band’s band.”
So much so, in fact, that eclectic musical connoisseur and multiplatinum recording artist Serj Tankian, best known as the frontman for System of a Down, signed them to his Serjikal Strike imprint, which released The Drawn & Quartered EP (2006) and the band’s third full-length album, Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True (2007).
A killer live show and intensive roadwork as a headliner, at prestigious festivals such as Coachella, Download, Rock AM Ring and Rock IM Ring and together with bands like Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Flyleaf and Dir en Grey has brought the band’s skillful and adept approach to art rock infused prog-metal to international attention.
There are a few of their by now trademarked tongue-in-cheek dalliances to be sure but for the most part Arrows and Anchors is Fair to Midland’s most cynical offering. By the same turn, it’s a performance album with a laser-like focus on the raw passion and intensity. In an age of overly processed heavy music, the band partnered with producer Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Melvins) who sequestered them into his self-appointed House of Compression in Pasadena, California and wrenched out top-tier performances.
The recording captures an authenticity and a sincerity that’s lacking in most modern records. “We always want to work with someone who is interested and enthusiastic to work with us,” Sudderth explains. “Because at the end of the day they’re going to spend that much more time wanting to make the record their own, as well. We didn’t want to worry about everything being immaculate, pristine and polished. This is absolutely a performance-driven record.”
Arrows & Anchors is also a testament to Fair to Midland’s personal chemistry and unique collaborative perspective. Some songs were written together. Others were demoed out by a particular member – say keyboardist Matt Langley or his six string cohort, Cliff Campbell – right down to the programmed drums. “Or maybe I brought a completed song where I programmed whatever instruments I can’t play,” Sudderth elaborates. It was a very open process.
The bizarrely creative and inspired vocals and guitar work in Fair to Midland play against the counterintuitive and monstrously rhythmic backbeat of drummer Brett Stowers and bassist Jon Dicken. Matt Langley’s ethereal electronics enhance everything else. The group’s canvas is as expansive and breathtaking as the state of Texas itself.
Fair to Midland is one of the rare bands who expertly walk the fine line between accessibility and integrity, between open lines of communication and introverted psychic exploration. “We’re not gifted songwriters,” Sudderth says with genuine self-effacing humility. “So we have to be really resourceful and that’s a talent in and of itself. We do our best.”
Fair to Midland's current lineup consists of Darroh Sudderth (vocals, banjo, mandolin, bass), Cliff Campbell (guitar), Matt Langley (keys), Ryan Collier (bass), and Logan Kennedy (drums).
In November 2011, the band released their first DVD, Welcome to the Dirt, consisting mainly of band shots and fan footage of live shows. The DVD is distributed exclusively through their own merchandise site. The profit from this release helped fund a professional video recording of the band's show at The Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan on December 17. This footage will be released worldwide on DVD on March 27, 2012. Arrows & Anchors will was released on double vinyl on March 26, limited to 250 copies.
Abigail
Fair to Midland Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sets a plate to feed the stifled steel
If there's a nurse that feeds your germ soaked dinners
On a tray of bones and orange peels
For yourself you'd crash a secret word
For some love you'd fall to break your neck
The opening lines of Fair to Midland's song Abigail are a thought-provoking and enigmatic reflection on isolation, submission, and the power dynamics within relationships. The metaphorical language of the lyrics suggests a scenario where a person is being held captive or controlled by a nurse or authority figure, who distributes stimuli in measured doses, manipulating and ultimately depriving the individual of their senses, agency, and self-worth. There are suggestions of abuse, neglect, and mental illness, as the idea of germ-soaked dinners and a tray of bones and orange peels evoke images of decay, decay or infection. The chorus introduces a sharp contrast, where the singer seems to rebel against this regime, perhaps out of a desire for love or freedom. The use of the phrase "crash a secret word" suggests a code, a signal or a password that might unlock a way out, while "falling to break your neck" indicates the willingness to take a significant risk to achieve an end.
The verses that follow continue to weave imagery of confinement and suppression, but also hint of a twisted fascination or admiration that the singer might hold towards the nurse or captor. Lines such as "Can you explain the way you make the roses sound like broken glass to me" or "Rid my illness from my past and staple my eyes to her" suggest a complex and potentially disturbing psychological dynamic.
Line by Line Meaning
If there's a nurse that takes your ears in rations
If there's someone in power who controls what you hear and how much of it, limiting your knowledge and understanding
Sets a plate to feed the stifled steel
This person also feeds you a diet that suppresses your true nature, making you feel confined and restricted
If there's a nurse that feeds your germ soaked dinners
If there's someone who serves you contaminated ideas or beliefs that can harm you in the long term
On a tray of bones and orange peels
This person presents these harmful ideas in a way that may seem appealing, but are actually shallow or meaningless
For yourself you'd crash a secret word
You are willing to risk everything and reveal a hidden truth, even if it means losing everything you have
For some love you'd fall to break your neck
You are willing to go through great lengths and take risks in order to find and keep love, even if it means self-destruction
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Johnny w
yea. glad im alive at the same time as this band. pound for pound. the best band. really. u know
Justin Solowoniuk
So sad they broke up... Everything they put out was amazing. :(
Also, trippy how I ended up here on my own again, two years after my original comment, just seven hours after yours...
Justin Solowoniuk
Love!