Photo by Jay Ericson
Anachronist is the brainchild of Vermont singer, songwriter, and guitarist Brian Clark. They’ve been compared to The Replacements, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Low, and Galaxie 500. The band’s first recording, the five-song Row ep, came out in 2012. Released by the Vermont-based record label State & Main Records, it featured the union of good friends from the Central Vermont music scene: Brian Clark, drummer Phil Carr (Viperhouse, MadMan3), bassist Mike Donofrio (Saturnine, The New Year), and guitarist Jay Ekis.
Row won high praise from local press, notably the Burlington, Vermont, alt-weekly Seven Days. Music Editor Dan Bolles called it “a local gem ... a tantalizing suite that deepens with each listen” (full review here), and it was include in the paper’s year-end roundup as one of Vermont’s ten best. When Ekis left the band to tour his surf-rock trio, The Concrete Rivals, classically trained guitarist Craig Jarvis stepped in to fill out the sound. The band quickly found itself writing, arranging, and honing the songs that make up the first full-length release, 2014’s Static & Light. Shortly before heading into the studio, they added singer and percussionist Angela Paladino to the lineup.
Static & Light again impressed Seven Days’ Bolles: “While Clark remains the group's primary musical architect, a distinctly collaborative thread stitches his band's latest together and makes it a work of profound musical and emotional resonance. ... These would be great songs whether played on an acoustic guitar or fleshed out as they are here. ... The result is an album whose layers and mysteries reveal themselves gradually, and which heralds the arrival of a uniquely great Vermont band.” (Bolles’ full review can be found here.)
Anachronist then released Lost in the Corners, also on State & Main Records, in December 2016. Dan Bolles wrote, "With Lost in the Corners," Anachronist have found something that was never really missing, just overlooked. By paring back arrangements and refocusing on Clark's brilliant writing, the band delivers a masterwork of succinct pop that both honors and expands upon its inspirational framework." (See the full review here.)
Anachronist has shared the stage with Anders Parker & Cloud Badge, Tim Foljahn, Wussy, Chris Brokaw, Paper Castles, and many others, and the band has played the Waking Windows Festival twice.
The band’s newest album is Stay Late, released in early 2020 and pressed on vinyl at Burlington Record Plant. While Craig Jarvis left the group in December 2017, he lent his guitar magic one last time for six of the tracks. Read Jordan Adams’ review in Seven Days here. A highlight: “Stay Late is full of authentic, genuine songs created by a gifted group of friends.”
In 2022, Bill Barbot (Jawbox, Foxhall Stacks) joined on guitar and vocals and contributing to a fuller, heavier sound that the band will bring into the studio in February 2024.