Your Majesty

Your Majesty is the second studio album by American rock band the Anniversary. It was released on January 22, 2002, through Vagrant Records. Following the release of their debut studio album, Designing a Nervous Breakdown in early 2000, the band started writing new material by that August. They later recorded the album in June 2001 at Sonora Recorders in Los Feliz, California, with producer Rob Schnapf. Your Majesty is a garage rock, neo-psychedelia, pop rock and space rock record that includes slow tempos, guitar solos and a grand piano; comparisons were made to the works of the full-band iteration of Elliott Smith, the New Pornographers, and the Kinks, among others. Leading up to the release of it, the Anniversary completed two US tours. The album was promoted with supporting slots for Guided by Voices, Dashboard Confessional and Cheap Trick, and two headlining tours by the band. Your Majesty received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom commented on the male–female vocals and Schnapf's production. In the US, the album charted on two Billboard component charts. It peaked at number 15 and 17 on the Independent Albums and Heatseekers Albums charts, respectively. Background and production The Anniversary released their debut studio album Designing a Nervous Breakdown in January 2000, through Heroes & Villains, an imprint of independent record label Vagrant Records that was owned by the Get Up Kids. By August of that year, the Anniversary were working on new material, which vocalist and guitarist Josh Berwanger said was acoustic-based and included electric piano from vocalist and keyboardist Adrianne Pope. The band went on the Heroes & Villains Fall Tour in September and October 2000, then took a two-week break before touring again until Christmas. They spent the period after Christmas writing further material for their next album. The Anniversary supported Hey Mercedes on their headlining US tour in February and March 2001. A week prior to recording the album, the band worked on pre-production with Rob Schnapf at a practice space; they played him every track and after each performance, the Anniversary went over parts and song structures.