By: Joseph VanBuren
Rating: 7/11 

Much like their song title “Sleeping Lions,” the music of Annabel is beautiful until it gets stirred up, and then things can get a little intense. Hailing from Kent, Ohio, Annabel is a unique flavor of indie music that is both sweet and salty. Seemingly innocent pop melodies half-buried under art house rock, all pleasantly drowning in an ethereal pool of emo, devoid of the latter’s best known clichés. The band rocks, but does it oh so softly. Even when the tempo is pretty fast, as in “People and Places,” and distortion saturates most of the track, the mood is somehow light and airy. The occasional usage of subtle keyboards, like the bell melody in the aforementioned “Sleeping Lions,” only adds to the jovial personality of their music. Then again, titles like “Widow Party” may raise suspicions that there is something deeper happening in these songs, perhaps something a little morbid. It’s very possible, but with such unique recipes one can merely speculate about the possible top secret ingredients. What can be said with certainty is that Annabel combines complexity with catchiness, which makes for some creative compositions. They are scheduled to play the SXSW festival this year, and it is likely that they will turn many heads.