We were sitting in the control room having a bull session, as we’re wont to do during the downtimes in the studio, when Annuals lead singer comes walking down our hallway calling out, “Is this Daytrotter?...I have to use your bathroom.” That was how we met. Baker was the only member of the band that appeared to have any spring left in his or her step. It could have just been because nature was calling and who isn’t alert when that’s an urgency? It had been a nightmare drive, the day of the final scheduled show on their tour. The next day they were driving back to North Carolina for some much-needed relaxation, but this day was arguably the longest one of the entire trip. The night before, they played Cleveland, Ohio, and drove straight through the night to Chicago, where they pulled over and slept for two hours, around 7 a.m. They were slated to be here with us at noon and arrived just minutes after Mates of State had packed up their gear and organ and headed on down the road. Kenny, Nick, Zack, Mike and Anna looked like they’d been steamrolled. Mike had a fistfight with the inside of the band’s gear trailer in his attempts to locate the pieces that needed to come out. General crankiness could have been in the air, but they were glad to finally be there as we’d been trying to make this session happen for a good amount of time and finally were able to put a route together, though it wasn’t ideal. Originally, the thought was that the session would be recorded Sept. 20th, the day after the final show on the tour (which coincidentally and painfully — as it had been their early morning resting point — was in Chicago). But they insisted on the 19th, not realizing that Rock Island borders Iowa. We made it work and that’s really all that matters. Baker, despite concerns that his voice wouldn’t hold out if they did certain songs too many times, was exceptional and as is evidenced in the session below, everyone else was able to dislodge themselves of the travel stupor and sleep deprivation to slay. Baker even seems to scream louder in points than he does on record. He also finished the session with a stirring version of “Father.” More than a lot of sessions that have been done here, this one had even more immediacy and raw live feel. They were forced to think less than they’d usually do and less than they’d prefer. Much of the control was taken from their hands because of the time constraints and this session captures the band, maybe not at its most entertainingly savage (as they’re known to get live), but with a lowered guard and a fly by night necessity. They had to have chosen to sleep in on the 20th. — Sean Moeller

Lead singer Adam Baker wants to make a disclaimer about his interpretations and analysis below. He wants everyone to keep in mind that those are just his takes on his songs. He wants them to remain open to interpretation etc.

First song
Dry Clothes (Annuals) [3.35MB] [4260 downloads]


— original version of this song appears on Be He Me
This song is more of a narrative that only fully plays out in my mind, due to the amount of words one can fit into three and a half minutes. The feeling I was trying to convey was a feeling of movement. The need you get to leave. Or to cleanse yourself of a place, a thing, a feeling, people, anything. And for whatever reason the first verse was written with “Sandlot” heavy on my mind.

Second song
Ida, My (Annuals) [2.62MB] [3906 downloads]


— original version of this song appears on Be He Me
This song is about watching seasons turn around you, feeling completely ignorant of everything that actually happens in the world. It’s about feeling out of touch with life because of the petty obstacles you set up for yourself.

Third song
Bleary Eyed (Annuals) [2.73MB] [3832 downloads]


— original version of this song appears on Be He Me
This song is about feeling restrained by your own fear and a need to do things like make money and feel achieved in your everyday dealings, instead of understanding how beautiful, and outstandingly good life actually is. I know it doesn’t seem that way by reading the lyrics. I’m a big fan of using characters as metaphors. The baby girl dying on my kitchen floor represents the anything I spend time doing that ends up bringing me no joy or peace. But I still do those things on a daily basis. I don’t know about everyone else, but when I get to thinking about the real deep down reason I do those things, I get extremely upset because, they are nothing but over-encumbering middle-men.

Fourth song
Father (Annuals) [3.82MB] [3809 downloads]


— original version of this song appears on Be He Me
This song is a story about a father who loses his son far before his time. The verses are from the third point of view and the chorus is from the first. the father often goes through horrible stints of insomnia and depression. He finds himself at a loss in attempts to comfort his wife for the first time in his life. This is the worst thing to happen. his son is dead, when he could have lived. and he and his wife are left to keep him alive in the only way any person knows how — to grieve. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking I wrote this song about my dad. It is in tribute to him, but it’s a story that conveys the love of a father for his son. I wanted it to show how deeply I loved him. When he died, I was in New York working on the song. I called him to tell him how wonderful the studio we were in was, and how excited I was for him to hear what we had been working on. I hadn’t yet told him about his song. The next day my mom called me and told me he was gone. Bad timing! Anywayyy!