Anywhere But Here. Sorry

"Working nine to five", was of course a smash hit for Dolly Parton but also the title of Sorry's debut album. '925' was an album I was attracted to immediately, an attraction that did not last, unfortunately. On the release, the band was ready, the world may have been ready and then ... nothing. We all went into lockdown. A worse moment for a fledgling band with a first album cannot be imagined, can it?

So, the only thing left for Sorry to do, was to come back with an album that is at least as good as '925'. Judging the title puts fear into my mind: Anywhere but here? Should that not be an in your face 'Here'?! All presupposing aside, let's listen to Anywhere But Hear.

The album starts with 'Leave The Lights On', as if the band is on the stage of a ghost pub, barely drowning out the banter in the back of the pub but also the singing along in the front of the stage returns through the mikes. 'Leave The Lights On' sets the mood of the album in a perfect way. Anywhere But Here goes beyond the happy, proud alternative rock band Sorry was in 2020.

In 2022 the band dived off the deep end to feel how hard the impact was going to be, how deep it could dive and how and where it would surface. It is this trip that is reflected in the music. It does make it, ghost music, in a sense: the ghost of what Sorry was is in there clearly. At the same time this is a new band. The sound is elementary, frayed as it were, with threads being shed continuously before recording and during. At the same time a needle applies some sustenance in the form of the addition of super coloured threads in the form of unexpected sounds and instruments that are woven in and out of the songs.

Take 'There's So Many People That Want To Be Loved'. The song is so elementary, almost hesitant, although this can be said for a larger part of the album. And then listen to what happens next. Sorry turns it into a coat of many colours, without leaving that sense of it being torn and frayed.

In that sense 'There's So Many People That Want To Be Loved' is representative for the whole of Anywhere But Here. Sorry jumped, explored and surfaced alright. It is an album that allows for exploration. No one gets all this in one go. For that too much is going on. Gone is the alternative rock band with traces of Britpop, enter this new beast. Alternative, certainly. Rock, Britpop? No. What else to call it I'm not so sure. What I'm hearing is music that is out to conquer any listener who dares to give this album a chance. Chances are it will succeed.

Anywhere But Here is a different album by a band that reinvented itself. "I still love you, whatever love means", Asha Lorenz sings in 'Step'. It may be that I am going to agree but before being certain, I have to listen more often to Anywhere But Here. It doesn't look like a punishment. More like something to look forward to.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Anywhere But Here here:

https://sorrybanduk.bandcamp.com/album/anywhere-but-here