Cities Changing Names – American Anymen

Cities Changing Names by American Anymen

Cities Changing Names by American Anymen is an album of sonic violence and unbridled energy. Each cut is a burst of power that features a sort of pristine mechanization wearing a cloak of raw, human tragedy. In terms of the singles, each has a dark, thematic storyline matched well with the flash and scorch of the musical experience. “Fentanyl Death Kiss,” is about being a druggie as well as the one who might check in on an addicted friend and find the inevitable dead body like some sick Christmas present. In the past, of course, doing heroine was like playing Russian Roulette, but Fentanyl is a surefire death sentence. The song is no public service announcement. It is a statement that claims, “You’ll be dead in two weeks.” The second single, “Expert of Nothing,” is about the degenerate minds running this country. Fiends are attracted to the money and notoriety that come with being a public official, and the given qualifications have become an insult to humanity, a popularity contest or a measure of how outrageous one can be on social media. And the third single, “My Vacation” is about the problems of the world becoming more of an intrusion into the average person’s life. The hot topic used to be the environment and the world collapsing in thirty years, but now it is happening before our eyes. Even in the cases of pandemics, wars, and possible extinction, America seems more determined than ever to just plan for “my next vacation.”

Before recording this album, Brett developed an industrial metal feel, ironically, on an acoustic guitar. His vision for the drums was that of a pounding kick accented with fills and flares the listener would feel as well as hear, and he spent a month editing the drums to get them to sound isolated and large. The vocals were tracked using a 57 mic and a compressor put together from a made-at-home box. He toyed with the idea of having the entire album in the synthetic animated voice for effect, but didn’t want the human rawness to be lost. He ended up layering compression and multiple delay/reverb pedals into a single effect and singing the entire album through that. The drums were recorded in a rehearsal space in Gowanus, Brooklyn and the rest of the album was made in Brett’s apartment in Ridgewood, Queens.

Altogether, this record reanimates your spine. It gets behind your eyes and makes your mind an echo chamber of colors and explosions. And whether you prefer the political side of the arena, or the trippy one that might hear these tunes and picture a mechanized army on hyper speed coming from the dark underworld of some distant planet, American Anymen is the vehicle of choice. It’s at the starting line. It’s kicking up smoke and the engine is roaring. Cities Changing Names by American Anymen was released on June 10, 2022 via Eclipse Records. Download or Listen to at this location right now!

Press Quotes & Highlights

• (9/10) “A fantastic album that sits in my top three albums in June, and although it’s still early I would probably say my top 15 albums of the year to date” – Hangman Entertainment
• (4/5) “the belligerent and beautiful love child of Ministry‘s Pslam 69 and Nine Inch Nails‘ Pretty Hate Machine” – Pretty Vacant One
• (7/10) “music is nervous and twisted, mirroring a claustrophobic and splashed urban reality” – Metalhead IT
• more coming soon…