Nothing Is Sound
Posted September 05, 2008
By thirdsaint,
This one's a grower. Whatever you do, don't form an opinion after the first couple spins or you'll miss out on a great release from Switchfoot. Now, I can understand some people may be turned off of Nothing Is Sound since it's not as accessible as the phenominal predecessor that was so catchy and addictive. However, if you give this enough spins you'll find it's just as addictive. For instance, The Beautiful Letdown is known for it's soaring vocal hooks and memorable guitar riffs. Here there are still great guitar riffs ('Politicians' anyone?), but the whole 'arena rock' vocal hooks are pretty much nowhere to be found. Switchfoot are thinking outside the box with the song structure and it's not all shiny and perfect. That's not all a bad thing.
One thing has stayed the same aside from the signature 'Switchfoot' sound you can detect. There's variety across all the songs like the last album. The ballads aren't any ordinary ballads as 'The Blues' shows with it's etheral guitars and perfect beat to carry Jon's passionate voice. There are no soaring ballads like 'Dare You to Move' and that's alright. 'Daisy' sounds like something The Beatles would do with it's vocal harmonies more than halfway through the song. 'Happy Is a Yuppie Word' is as odd as the song title with it's constant changes. 'Politicians' is the fastest track with a killer riff leading the way.
Lyrically, you can tell Switchfoot have become more socially aware. That's not at all bad considering some of the lyrics still show their beliefs. It's just not as obvious as in the past. They are taking the opportunity to reach out and make a statement about what they see going on around them without being pushy about it. There is still a message of hope through all of that so in a sense they are the anti-Radiohead. You won't be depressed about the state of the world after you listen to it.
That being said, some songs could bother some people. 'The Blues' strikes me as a flat-out honest song about how 'wicked' people are still successful and get by with what they do. It's really not much different from David's prayers in the book of Psalms when he cries out for vengeance on his enemies. Then you have 'Politicians', which comes across as a cynical view on the political world around us. In an interesting twist, Jon seems to sing about those of us who just sit and watch all that's going on without doing anything.
While I don't think they've created a classic album like The Beautiful Letdown, they've reinforced my thinking that they are one of the better bands of the decade and aren't content with staying put. That's huge because it means I won't be buying the same album with different lyrics every 2 years. I can count on them to put out a new product with new tweaks to their sound, always pushing it to another level. That saying, 'Don't always judge a book by it's cover', rings true with music sometimes. Only instead it's, 'Don't judge an album by your initial impressions'. When music has depth it takes awhile to realize it.
Gems of this album are: 'Lonely Nation', 'Happy Is a Yuppie Word', 'The Blues', 'Politicians'
Overall - 9.2/10 View All Music And Book Reviews By thirdsaint | View thirdsaint's Profile
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