Having It All [CD]

Having It All, the third full-length from Kent, Ohio's Annabel, was produced by Evan Weiss of Into It Over It. The record follows up numerous releases from the band on the Count Your Lucky Stars label. Also, Annabel previously released their 2010 EP, Here We Are Tomorrow, on Tiny Engines. Having It All feels orchestral at times, with guitars that intertwine and sometimes collapse into harmonic hums. The sticky chords on “The Fortunate Ones,” for example, are wrenched around by a stubborn drumbeat until a quiet chorus, during which singer Ben Hendricks warbles beneath the thrumming rhythm and whispering organ; toward the end, though, that quiet chorus rises into a roar during which melody burns white hot and the instruments, indistinguishable, melt into a pummeling progression. At no point does this complexity weigh the album down; instead, Annabel’s third full-length feels joyful.