N.C.’s Annuals on why they chose a Bob Ross painting for their new LP’s cover art:

“The way that Bob made his paintings, and the way he paints in particular, is pretty similar to the way that our band makes a record. Bob Ross starts his paintings with simple little smudges and blotches, making ‘happy trees’ or ‘cute little bridges,’ and he seems to be having ‘such fun’ doing it. But when it’s finished, and his blotches take form, we see that his paintings are actually intricate landscapes – layer on top of layer of what are seemingly a bunch of fun, whimsical drawings are actually quite complicated. Continuing this dichotomy, it seems like all of the happy, lovely places he paints always have a bit of sad loneliness and isolation to them too, and some of the songs on our new album can definitely relate to that duality.”

I’ll add to that. Ross painted in a technique known as wet-on-wet, with layers of wet paint applied to previous layers of wet paint. The result is light colors mixing with dark; layers flowing into each other and the ability to change one’s mind before the paint dries on the canvas. This perfectly explains the live Annuals experience.

Here’s the lead track off Such Fun, out October 7 on Canvasback Music:

Annuals : “Confessor” (mp3)

Watch the wet-on-wet Annuals experience at Minneapolis’ Varsity Theater on October 15 with Minus the Bear and Themes.