NEW SURRENDER

Following the success of 'Cities' Anberlin signed to major label 'Universal Republic Records' on 16th August 2007 and 'New Surrender' was the first album released following the deal and was released on 30th September 2008.

Lyrically, Christian found this one more difficult than the previous, as he had to write it in a very short amount of time, so took inspiration from books, art and friends to try and take a new direction for this album. He wrote most of the lyrics on a trip to New Orleans in a cafe. He went through a small mental breakdown after the pressure from Universal was imposed, he took the holiday to New Orleans to try and get over it and said "the songs that came from the trip, inspired by New Orleans, are like none other before".

His 5 strongest influences on writing these lyrics were...

1.The war in Iraq.

2. Revelations/conspiracy theories

3. The news that one of his close friends was diagnosed with a terminal disease

4. His trip to New Orleans

5. His current relationship

Stephen Christian on the name of the album...

"We will all come to the point in our life where we have to admit that we feel defeated, that something has conquered us. We must change, not because we want to, but because we desperately have to. We can not take life in its current suffocating state, even to admit such desperation shows that we are feeling deserted, wandering the barren desert, a shell of our former selves. It is only up from here, it is impossible to sink any lower into ourselves or our circumstances. But we can be salvaged, a deliverance. No vice can stand, no fix can take. The thorn in the side can be removed, but you have to be willing to admit and surrender. Surrender your habits, your lifestyle, your past, your present, and your future. This is your new surrender. The new surrender. New Surrender."

The band knew they needed a change in direction to really hit the American market, but they didn't want to change who they were. The result was this album.

Proving this, the album went straight to number 13 on the Billboard charts and sold 36, 000 copies in its first week.

1. The Resistance

2. Breaking

3. Blame me! Blame me!

4. Retrace

5. The Feel Good Drag

6. Disappear

7. Breathe

8. Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)

9. Younglife

10. Haight Street

11. Soft Skeletons

12. Miserable Visu

Neal Avron (New Found Glory) - Production, Engineering, Mixing

Nate Albert - A&R

Ted Mensen - Mastering