The Anniversary

After its tumultuous departure from Vagrant Records earlier this year, many wondered if the Anniversary would continue to exist. Fortunately, the Lawrence-based quintet shows no sign of waning, as evidenced by a pair of compelling demos (“The Lonesome Road,” “Death of the Season”) that have surfaced online in recent weeks. If the new tunes are any indication, the Anniversary will continue to eschew its pop-wave origins and dig deeper into the weird-beard sounds of the ’60s and ’70s, this time with a heavy rhythmic emphasis. The Lawrence date, at which the group plans to unveil a bounty of fresh material, serves as a launching pad for a short trek through the right half of the country, culminating in a pair of shows at the CMJ estival, where the band is slated to perform with the Blood Brothers, Pretty Girls Make Graves and others. Talks with various record labels are in the works, and with any luck the Anniversary should be entering the studio in the coming months to lay down tracks for a third full-length.