New Say Anything LP Boasts All-Star Guest Roster

Ten years ago, then-fledgling indie rock outfit Say Anything released their surrogate debut (actually their second album, but first widely released) full-length, …Is A Real Boy, to wide acclaim.

It's been a wild decade since, but with the band – which has long since grown from its …Real Boy-era roster of frontman Max Bemis and since-departed drummer Coby Linder – about to drop their sixth (or fifth, depending on how you're counting) LP, Hebrews, it's worth reflecting on the fact that, in that time, Say Anything has evolved from being the bedroom project of a bipolar drug addict to internationally renowned darlings of the indie crowd.

The fact is particularly pertinent when considering that Hebrews – aside from being the first Say Anything album to do away entirely with guitars – features a veritable who's-who of early '00s post-post-hardcore indie identities on guest duties, including Manchester Orchestra's Andy Hull, Sherri DuPree-Bemis of Eisley and Being Max Bemis' Wife, Saves The Day's Chris Conley, Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids, Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley, Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou, and – from the pre-post-hardcore identity list – blink-182's Tom DeLonge.

Aside from its aversion to guitar use – instead favouring string arrangements this time around – Hebrews also stands out as Say Anything's most explicitly religiously driven album to date.

Ruminations on God and humanity have been a regular feature of Bemis' lyricism, but spiritual themes take centre stage here for the first time.

“A big part of the journey was … understanding my lineage and my culture,” Bemis said of the album. “That's why the record's called Hebrews. Whether you're Jewish, Catholic or whatever, you come from a [larger] culture.

"It's not a record about being Jewish; it's about understanding where my neuroses come from. Is it from society, my parents or from the dawn of man?”

The band recently dropped the album's first single, Six Six Six, while Hebrews is set to be available for purchase from June 10 via UNFD/Equal Vision Records.

Full List Of 'Hebrews' Guest Vocalists:

Chris Conley (Saves The Day)
Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids)
Chauntelle DuPree-D'Agostino (Eisley)
Keith Buckley (Every Time I Die)
Brian Sella (The Front Bottoms)
Aaron Weiss (mewithoutYou)
Stacy King (Eisley)
Bob Nanna (Braid)
Gareth and Kim Campesinos (Los Campesinos)
Christie DuPree (Merriment), Jeremy Bolm (Touché Amoré)
Tom DeLonge (blink-182)
Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra)
Jon Simmons (Balance & Composure)
Sherri DuPree-Bemis (Eisley)