“It’s an anthem to youth. To figuring out things the hard way.” I started this blog in my mid-20’s, now in my mid-30’s it’s still pretty surreal to be covering artists that I covered back then. “Back then” I was in my mid-20’s, living in SLC, starting my career as a social worker and incredibly conflicted about identity, religion and all of these intense and vital emotions that kept me inside my own head – even when I was surrounded by people. Writing for the SLC Alt-Monthly SLUG, I had many opportunities to cover Drew Danburry’s albums and live shows. As the front-person and primary songwriter for Icarus Phoenix – a band formed in Missoula, MT and now a bit more scattered through the American West, I really admire how “Anthem” chronicles without valorizing the messes we were in our 20’s. Dumpster diving, forgetting to pay rent, our still-forming and mismanaged brains are reviewed as sign posts to leading to a more fulfilling adulthood sans misplaced nostalgia for a time that was really confusing for a lot of us. Shepherded into the present with precise indie rock timing and some very tasteful woodwinds that avoid steering the track towards the baroque (think more Fevers and Mirrors less Funeral), Icarus Phoenix continues to charm and instruct. It should be noted, and probably not in the last sentence, that the brilliant lego, stop-motion video was created by Danburry’s 12 year old Nephew.