Produced and mixed by Mike Butler, and mastered by Jamal Ruhe, Answers Belie, the eighth long player from folk-rock duo Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz, is both lyrically provocative and musically haunting. The songs on Answers Belie cover a trio of topics: political, philosophical, and sentimental, and convey a sad feeling, an aura of melancholy, as if confronting an impasse, like a wall, around which you can neither advance nor retire nor sidle away. Musicians on the album comprise Eric Anders (vocals), Mark O’Bitz (acoustic and electric guitar, keys, piano), Mike Butler (bass, lap steel, mandolin, keys), Ben Moore (keys), John O’Reilly Jr. (drums), and Jenn Grinels (backing vocals). Opening track “Slow Movin’ Nightmare,” as song Anders describes as “a dirge for American democracy,” travels ...