Anorexia (album)
Encyclopedia
Anorexia is an album by the band Showbread
. It was released on May 13, 2008 simultaneously with its companion album Nervosa
. Anorexia is the first of a two-CD collection entitled Anorexia Nervosa, which is an accompaniment to the short story Anorexia Nervosa which comes pacakged with the records. The album acts as a soundtrack to a read-along story book that features a chapter for each track. As the reader follows the story, the album reacts to what happens within the text. Taking a drastic new direction from their second album Age of Reptiles
, which featured a more straightforward alternative rock sound, the band took "Anorexia" in a much darker, Industrial rock
tone.
which parallels her quest to be remembered for her children's hospital. The subsequent text in each chapter is narrated by Anorexia herself, and takes place in real time in the actual world. While Anorexia's motives seem noble, we learn as the story continues that she is driven by a sinister, selfish desire to become immortalized and praised for her "good deeds". One night while treating a child with an unnamed illness (presumably the HIV virus), Anorexia is stabbed with a dirty syringe
and infected with the same illness. As Anorexia is weakened by the disease, she becomes more infamous and her tower to Heaven becomes taller. But on her death bed she finds no solace and realizes that her great tower is merely a shallow bed of stones only feet from the ground. At this point in the story, the real time narrative ceases and the remaining chapters are carried exclusively through metaphorical means. Anorexia, dying on her bed of stones, wakes in a sunlit field and finds that she has been carried to safety by a small lamb
who died in the process of rescuing her. The lamb however, resurrects and explains that he had given his life to save Anorexia simply to fulfill his lifelong desire to be with her.
Showbread (band)
Showbread is an American Christian rock band originating in Guyton, Georgia. More specifically, the band lives in a small community within Guyton called Marlow. They formed in 1997. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes since its formation but maintains its two founding members, Josh...
. It was released on May 13, 2008 simultaneously with its companion album Nervosa
Nervosa (album)
Nervosa is an album by the band Showbread. It was released on May 13, 2008 simultaneously with its companion album Anorexia. Nervosa second in a two-CD collection entitled Anorexia Nervosa, which is an accompaniment to the short story Anorexia Nervosa which comes packaged within the records...
. Anorexia is the first of a two-CD collection entitled Anorexia Nervosa, which is an accompaniment to the short story Anorexia Nervosa which comes pacakged with the records. The album acts as a soundtrack to a read-along story book that features a chapter for each track. As the reader follows the story, the album reacts to what happens within the text. Taking a drastic new direction from their second album Age of Reptiles
Age of Reptiles (Showbread album)
Age of Reptiles is an album by the band Showbread. It was released on August 1, 2006. It sold over 4,000 copies in its first week making it the first Showbread album to chart on the Billboard 200 at #198.-Reaction of Fans:...
, which featured a more straightforward alternative rock sound, the band took "Anorexia" in a much darker, Industrial rock
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
tone.
Story
The album and included booklet tell the story of a woman named Anorexia who begins her story by opening a center for sick and dying children. Like her sister Nervosa, Anorexia's story takes place within two texts. The first section of each chapter tells Anorexia's story in a more stylized, fairy tale-esque and metaphorical manner. Within this text, Anorexia spends the story laboring to build a tower to HeavenHeaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
which parallels her quest to be remembered for her children's hospital. The subsequent text in each chapter is narrated by Anorexia herself, and takes place in real time in the actual world. While Anorexia's motives seem noble, we learn as the story continues that she is driven by a sinister, selfish desire to become immortalized and praised for her "good deeds". One night while treating a child with an unnamed illness (presumably the HIV virus), Anorexia is stabbed with a dirty syringe
Syringe
A syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube...
and infected with the same illness. As Anorexia is weakened by the disease, she becomes more infamous and her tower to Heaven becomes taller. But on her death bed she finds no solace and realizes that her great tower is merely a shallow bed of stones only feet from the ground. At this point in the story, the real time narrative ceases and the remaining chapters are carried exclusively through metaphorical means. Anorexia, dying on her bed of stones, wakes in a sunlit field and finds that she has been carried to safety by a small lamb
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
who died in the process of rescuing her. The lamb however, resurrects and explains that he had given his life to save Anorexia simply to fulfill his lifelong desire to be with her.
Track listing
- "The Journey" - 3:34
- "The Vulture" - 3:49
- "The Sky" - 3:18
- "The Sky (Alpha)" - 3:22
- "The Dirt" - 2:38
- "The Pig" - 4:58
- "The Flies" - 3:11
- "The Goat" - 3:43
- "The Death" - 4:15
- "The End" - 3:56 (featuring Ivory Mobley)
- "The End (Omega)" - 1:04
- "The Beginning" - 4:51