After the ’80s indie/new wave melancholy of ‘Aucklantis‘, it was time for a change… ‘A Better Plan B’ is a return to the Anecdata ‘rock’ sound, but bigger and shinier than ever.

The title comes from the lyrics to ‘Amelia Through the Looking Glass‘, which puts forward the theory the famed aviatrix didn’t crash at all – instead perhaps piloting her Lockheed Model 10 Electra into a rift in spacetime and leaving this cursed planet behind.

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The album opens with ‘Dumb Backwards Government‘, in which a buzzing synth lead floats over a repeated, hypnotic and monolithic guitar riff.

‘The Smoothest Brain‘ turns up the powerpop, mixing melody with chugging guitars and synths that pop in and out of existence.

‘Andromedean Girl‘ tells the tragic tale of a man who willingly hands the Earth on a plate to alien invaders, while ‘Staging a Coup‘ takes a look at political upheaval closer to home – specifically the early 2022 occupation in Wellington.

The second half of the album dials down the disco for a heavier rock sound, with ‘Neon Riot‘, ‘Backwater‘, ‘Nearly a Star‘, ‘Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror‘ and ‘Holidays in Hawaii‘ living and dying on sharp riffs and heavy guitars.

There’s a brief reprieve with the mutant synthpop of ‘AWOL‘, before ‘Under the Dirt‘ goes takes a turn for the industrial to close out the record.

If you download the whole album, there are bonus tracks too – the heavy riffer ‘Can You Not?’, the grungepop ‘No Way’ and – no kidding – a sequel to one of the ’80s greatest tunes, ‘The Invisible Man II’. (Not promising it comes even close – there’s a reason it’s just a bonus track!) Plus demo recordings of ‘Amelia Through the Looking Glass’ and ‘Think So? I Know So’, the original 2022 single version of ‘Holidays in Hawaii’ and an earlier recording of ‘The Smoothest Brain’, originally done for the ‘Team of Just One’ Album but dropped from the final tracklisting.

‘A Better Plan B’ is Anecdata’s take on what rock should sound like in 2023.Well, an attempt at it anyway.

Pay what you want download. Also available on all the usual streaming sites.