Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz

By Farandulero / Noti Farandula

Translation by Juan at RushTranslate, Ileana Hernandez, and Eric Anders

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When historians look back at this period in music history, it will certainly be regarded as a high watermark for songs about isolation.  Beyond the daily uproar regarding variants and mandates, closures and economic consequences, the story of 2020 and 2021 will be about how we were all forced to come to terms with isolation.  Sure, we have the internet now.  We are consistently interconnected--far more than we would have been during the Spanish flu a century ago. However, the repercussions of this widely distorted form of communication have reverberated through every facet of society.  The idea of “whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you ... stranger” has taken hold and we are stuck living in a very bizarre, troubling timeline.

 

Composers Eric Anders and Mark O'Bitz craft a penetratingly perceptive form of indie / American / folk that highlights their masterful skills as singer-songwriters. 2019's Ghosts to Ancestors is a haunting collection of brilliantly presented tracks that will keep you coming back again and again.  Its signature soulful howl--combined with expertly produced, tonally rich instrumentation--is arresting and often uses eloquent turns of phrase to reinforce Anders' hypnotic voice.

 

Anders' work [with O'Bitz] dates back to 2003.  [Since 2018,] the duo has released five albums, one EP, and [four] singles, with another album [Variant Blues] on the way. Their latest releases are part of their "Music in the Time of Coronavirus" collection, which they largely conceived of and recorded in isolation during the lockdowns. When possible, the duo joins the rest of their band to record in [The Singing Serpent Studios] in San Diego. 

 

"Stuck Inside" was a poignant title during the project's conception as we were all locked down, but Anders eventually wanted to scrap it for something more au courant once the world started to open up again. However, upon further examination, he saw a society chronically stuck inside itself: wrapped up in all the narcissism, commodity fetishism, and uninformed mania that has arisen out of this trying time. People's true colors show when faced with a crisis ... and we lost our collective minds.

 

With the Stuck Inside chapter of Music in the Time of Coronavirus, the duo grapples with the straining aspects of a prolonged war against an intangible enemy while getting markedly frustrated and alienated.  The opener, 'Morton's Pillory Plea,' is a track that highlights how the old demons of history keep returning to wreak havoc in new insidious ways.  The song was inspired by a New York Review of Books review essay by Christopher Benfey called "Pranksters and Puritans." The essay explores the deluded dogmatic thinking of the puritans and how their unhinged, conspiracy-riddled beliefs led to violence, division, and what would become the inherited trauma of a nation. 

 

Anders draws a parallel between these witch-burning fanatics of yesteryear and the QAnon-following insurrectionists of today.  The song has a captivating tom beat and sustained piano chords that evoke slow-motion images of newsreel strife.  Anders croons sarcastically, "I don’t dare question any of their faith / I don’t dare as they pillory me to waste / I don’t dare fight your princes of limbo / I don’t dare make this colony my foe." The prospect of fighting a rabid animal that is so wound up that it cannot see what it's doing.  This song is a powerful commentary on what will be looked back on as some of America's darker days.

 

There are many affecting tracks on the new record.  'This Bird Don't Fly' is a piano-centric piece with gorgeous complementary atmospherics. It may be an odd comparison but Anders’s vocals recall Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno's melodic hooks from their latest record, Ohms. Mournful yet obstinate.  

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'Lost at Sea' goes further out, beyond the obvious frustrations of being cut off from friends, family, and the world.  It dives into the mental toll that prolonged isolation can have.  Taking the form of a slow blues, Anders sings through the disjointed effect of a blowhorn to further reflect the estrangement caused by distancing for long periods. His uncertainty of how to act anymore is a feeling that can be felt by everyone after the last two years.

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The title track ["Stuck Inside"] saunters listlessly with O'Bitz's guitars fizzling out like distant descending fireworks.  Anders pines over his captivity, close enough to hear life going on around him but unable to reach out. 

 

The closer 'Small World Abide' is an allusion to one of Anders biggest songs, 'Big World Abide' (2006). This track, which almost became the title track, picks up the energy for one last cornered outburst.  Anders unleashes his discontent with the state of the world in an outpouring that shows the soft-spoken singer breaking his consistently cool demeanor.

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In a year that will see many meditations on isolation, as well as many political commentaries on the ramifications of this inflammatory time, Stuck Inside is one of the most well-written and poignant.  O'Bitz and Anders have perfected their songwriting relationship to a point where the songs seem to come fast and easy.  Let's see what the next chapter, Variant Blues, has to offer.

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Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz: Stuck Inside

By Ralph Greco, ShortandSweetNYC.com

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A slow stamping snare and single piano chords run under the verses of “Morton’s Pillory Plea,” the opener on Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz’s Stuck Inside. The choruses bleed through loud and lush, countering the sparse verse and Ander’s heartbreaking pleading. This first track sets us up for much of what the duo has to say (and do) across the ten that follow.

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Simple piano arpeggios and single keys move the second track, “This Bird Don’t Fly.” Again, the melancholy is thick as much from Ander’s high warble as the “Winchester Cathedral” like build from the back in the mix beat and little sonic-scape touches. I like how this one maintains its tight drama throughout, not breaking out to be anything but the cinema-like mélange it starts to be.

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The title track, with its western laid-back, slow strumming, is quite welcome appearing mid-way. O’Bitz provides just the right jangle of single note bends and power chords with his guitar, playing off of Anders' slightly biting lyrics. The lead rises just enough with the song keeping one locked deep in its moment.

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Piano and a solid beat move “Holdin’ Our Own” perfectly; you are tapping your foot and swaying well before you are even aware you are captured by this, one of the most commercial tunes. What a wonderful lilting chorus the guys give us here. And the guitar mixed with single-note melody pushes the concoction along.

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“Small World Abide” pushes another of Anders’ better shout-vocals here, ending Stuck Inside on a desperate plea.

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