Album Review: Lost Anchor – Turning Tide

While memories are usually rooted in a specific time and place, so too is music. But sometimes, heading to the past can help us find our present.

The news that Sugar have reunited to embark on a run of live dates, and release new music, got me listening to Turning Tide from a different perspective. A comparison to the fast-burning light of Bob Mould’s seminal early 90s outfit is a suitable one for Lost Anchor’s new album, because often, the vocal and guitar melodies could easily have made an appearance on Copper Blue.

Indianapolis, Indiana based Lost Anchor find commonalities with that iconic album on tracks like Clarity and album opener Broken Thread, as a melodic take on post-hardcore gives those songs a timeless presence, at times with power-pop and grunge dancing in the shadows of the arrangement.

However, the quartet have referenced the likes of Alter Bridge, Deftones, and Foo Fighters as influences, and that confluence of rock, hardcore, and grunge helps to define Turning Tide. On Broken Thread the band allow the lyrics to break through a wall of yielding noise, displaying that as much as Lost Anchor find inspiration in alt-rock and hard rock, they attach great importance to the words carrying as much import as the music.

You can detect the influences on the lyrics, with the emotional intelligence and search for meaning common in the lyrics of Michael Stipe, Gordon Gano, and Bob Mould upending any prejudices that hard rock themes can’t allow for expressions of emotional vulnerability.

If you’re of a certain age, you can hear your own memories playing through the album’s nine songs: Lost Anchor give themselves plenty of room to experiment with what works for them, often venturing outside safe harbours – as they do on Clarity and Outrun the Sun. The latter is the sound of a band having fun – riff-heavy as it foams like sea spray between grunge and doom, but as ever on Turning Tide, the vocals and melody retain an important place as the fiercely burning fire at the core of the songs.

Turning Tide is out now, and available on 180g black vinyl in a limited edition of 150 copies. You can obtain a copy on the band’s website and on Bandcamp. The album can also be heard on YouTube Music and Spotify – explore the band’s Facebook and Instagram socials for music updates and other listening options. The band is already working on their sophomore album, set for release in 2027.