There's something about multi-tracked one-man recordings that hints at an underlying need to be alone. Control issues, a general aversion to people — something. The funny thing is that Lackthereof mastermind Danny Seim's better-known band, Menomena, write their songs in the same cut-and-paste manner as a loner in his basement. That said, it isn't too surprising that Your Anchor sounds like, well, one of the guys from Menomena recording in his basement.

Which isn't to call the project superfluous. Lackthereof gives the drummer a chance to play around with some other instruments: the guitars that slip and slide all over "Fire Trial," the bass groove that propels "Chest Pass," or a little hushed beat-boxing on "Ask Permission."

Lyrically, it's all doom, gloom and ennui. Seim mumbles about downer topics like drowning and endangered pachyderms as if he's just woken up. Though similarly styled, the tracks aren't as complex as Menomena's, and they usually do their job and duck out in under three minutes. But the album still allows room for those charming telltale signs of a DIY project — false starts, the clatter of fumbled drumsticks and the feeling that all the rough edges turned out just the way the guy… read more »