April 4, 1999

Newcastle Mayfair

They sound in turn like a literate [I]Symposium[/I], a less flighty [a]Suede[/a] and [B]The Dandy Warhols[/B] without the crystal meth overload...

It's the contradictions within Annie Christian that make them so special. Four moody Edinburgh men swathed head-to-toe in black, they look like they should be churning out doomy, end-of-the-world-is-nigh industro-goth bollocks, but actually the opposite is true. Annie Christian, like, believe in something, man - namely the fact that rock'n'roll, done as it should be, with guts, soul and conviction, can still change the world.

It's there in the jagged guitar onslaught of 'Someday My Prince Will Come Again', in the pensively threatening 'Secrets And Lies', there in Chris Adams' frantic guitar attacks and Larry Lean's visceral howl, which is kind of Kelly Jones without the bullishness. They sound in turn like a literate Symposium, a less flighty Suede and The Dandy Warhols without the crystal meth overload.

All of which suggests that they should be vacuous glamourpusses with a penchant for swoony guitars and some shouting - except they're not. This is direct, honest rock music with just a touch of the 'Animal Nitrate' about it. Sometimes misleading, but really perfectly simple: what you see isn't necessarily what you get.