LIMERICK emo/indie outfit Anna’s Anchor drop their fourth album, The Merries, this Friday July 7. The album will be released by Galway label Strange Brew on digital and limited edition 12” vinyl.
The Merries follows up the acclaimed concept album, ‘A Glorious Ruction’ which took its inspiration from the three bridges walk over the River Shannon in Limerick and is the first Anna’s Anchor release on the Galway label.
Once a solo affair for Marty Ryan, Anna’s Anchor has evolved into a collaborative community with the frontman as the band’s lynchpin
Marty is on the phone from the US to discuss the album and a four date tour of Ireland in the coming weeks. He is two years into his studies at Kent State University, Ohio studying for a A PHD of Music Education
The album documents some long held happy memories for the songwriter. Ryan suffered a frightening head injury in 2021 shortly after moving to the US to pursue his studies.
Memory loss and long term issues were an initial concern. Ryan wrote a list of important memories after the accident happened as a way to ensure he remembered those experiences that were precious to him.
“After living in America for about two or three months I had this accident that involved a head injury and thank God I’m okay and everything’s fine.
“But at the time, I was really shocked and, you know, I wasn’t 100% sure if the memory loss was a potential issue.”
“I just wrote down a list of memories that were just near and dear to me, and they were all things that mainly happened from a long time ago. I had this list of things I didn’t want to lose.
“The album is basically an audio version of all of those memories and I tried to lay them out as if it was a movie that was being played back.”
One track ‘Listowel’, sees Ryan recalling his first band and a gig in the punk scene in Listowel and Tralee, which had been cultivated by the group Blank. He was only 15 at the time.
“It was one of my first experiences of complete freedom.
“I now realise just how special those times were. It was amazing because it was our own little world that was separate at the time to school and separate our whole life and we could make whatever we wanted out of it.
“And it was just total freedom. And we made friendships that still last to this day,”
Over nine tracks, The Merries takes the listener through days of freedom, moments of teenage social awkwardness on ‘Function Room Floor’ and his love of Limerick in ‘I Never Felt That Way’.
Ryan’s love of Limerick is “more a part of my personality than anything else,” and living in the States he often finds himself missing “walking down Catherine Street just to bump into someone I know, going to Rift for coffee and sitting outside in the fresh air, skateboarding at the train station where you meet some of the sketchiest characters you’ll ever encounter in your life”—the list goes on.
He was surprised, then, to hear a different Limerick band in London in the ‘90s speaking poorly about his home in a documentary (“It’s just a shithole, like”), and decided to use the words from this in a tongue-in-cheek manner as part of the interlude from Side A to Side B with spoken word by Limerick artist Laura O’Loughlin.
The deep, distorted voices over silvery pangs of synth make Ryan’s feelings clear: ‘I Never Felt That Way’.
The members of Anna’s Anchor worked remotely to put together the album as they have always done.
The classic sound of Anna’s Anchor is still there, but the loud guitars, bass and drums are tempered with stripped back songs, synth lines, found sound, and spoken word pieces giving the album it’s cinematic feel.
The drums were recorded in Leeds in a studio owned by Nick “Peanut” Baines, keyboard player with Kaiser Chiefs. Marty recorded his guitars and vocals in the US and Clare O’Brien added her piano and vocal from here in Limerick.
In a first for Anna’s Anchor she co-wrote the album’s final track called, ‘Closing Credits’.
Marty recalls, “One thing that was a little bit different this time around was that for Claire O’Brien who plays keys and sings us, It’s the first time it’s been someone else singing lead in the band. And Claire also wrote the lyrics and the melody for that song as well and that is a completely new thing.”
This quality recording has been picked by Galway label Strange Brew run by Gugai, the main man at legendary venue Roisin Dubh and home to Junior Brother, Slow Place Like Home and Houseplants to name a few
The Merries follows up the acclaimed concept album, ‘A Glorious Ruction’ which took its inspiration from the three bridges walk over the River Shannon in Limerick and is the first release on the Galway label.
“It’s a real privilege and an honour to have our music released on Strange Brew.”
“It does mean a lot because, first of all, having someone helping you, when you’re used to doing almost everything yourself. Gugai has been involved in music in Ireland for so long. To give his time to help promote our music is an amazing thing.
“Running a label is one of the most selfless acts because all you’re doing is promoting other people’s work and you’re putting all your time and energy into other people.”
In revisiting his past, Ryan and his collaborators discovered a new artistic freedom with Anna’s Anchor, culminating in The Merries.
With the new album ready to go on release this Friday, what does Marty hope that the listeners will get from the record?
“Despite the whole idea of this album being born out of a very scary and difficult period, it has an uplifting feel.
“It’s by far our most positive album because I feel really grateful to just be here on this planet and be able to have new experiences in music.
If a listener can get a sense of appreciation for their own day from this album, it has achieved what I would want it to achieve
What would success for this record mean to Marty and his band?
“The mark of success is to be able to do another album.
“At times it can be difficult when you are trying to push your music as far as possible and you are constantly thinking how many plays it has on Spotify or how many views on YouTube or what DJ is playing the songs.”
“It’s really easy to get caught up in all that. It doesn’t help your music at the end of the day.
“It is most important to be happy with the music that you are making and to continue to do it. If this record allows us to do another in a couple of years time I’ll have chalked it down as a success.”
Anna’s Anchor bring their raucous full band sound to the Róisín Dubh in Galway on July 12, The Workman’s Cellar in Dublin on July 13, Debarra’s in Clonakilty on July 14, and a hometown gig at Dolan’s Warehouse on Saturday July 15.
