Anberlin's Deon Rexroat breaks down "Currency", first full album with Matty Mullins

Anberlin bassist Deon Rexroat has detailed the making of Currency, the band's new album and its first full-length featuring Matty Mullins as permanent lead vocalist. The record is up for pre-order through Equal Vision Records, and Rexroat discussed it in a new interview with Chorus.fm.

The title, he explained, came from a wide reading of the word: currency as more than money, taking in time, art, music and hours spent with family and friends. He tied that idea to the songs themselves, many of which deal with self-rediscovery. Changing for the better, he said, builds a kind of currency with yourself, and happiness counts as one too.

Lead single "Neverafter", released with a mostly black-and-white performance video, was picked because it captures what the band has built over two decades. Rexroat said the track would have fit comfortably on Never Take Friendship Personal, whose 20th anniversary the band recently celebrated, and pointed to Anberlin's habit of moving between heavier, poppier and quieter material.

Asked which records resonate most, the bassist named Never Take Friendship Personal and Cities as foundational, crediting that stretch with building the group's fanbase and touring life. From later in the catalog he singled out Vital, made with producer Aaron Sprinkle across two Nashville studios over roughly eight weeks, a session that leaned heavily on synths.

Rexroat also revisited the band's pandemic "Lockdown Livestream" series, started after their 2020 tour kept getting pushed back. Encouraged by what acts like Dropkick Murphys were doing online, Anberlin tested the format, then worked through seven albums at a pace of roughly one every six to eight weeks until touring resumed.