Nothing Is Sound Review

Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Nothing Is Sound Review

Oops...this review has been sitting in my email account for over two months now. I can't believe the album has been out that long. I had every intention of getting this review in the week it came out. Oh well, here goes (it's in progress, by the way).


To me one of two things happens when listening to a song or collection of songs. Either the music pursues you or you pursue the music. These days, the cases in which the music has pursued me have been fewer and farther in between.

And also these days there are only a handful of artists whose CDs I will automatically buy on release day, and most of those (ex: Satellite Soul, The Normals, Vigilantes of Love) no longer have record deals.

Switchfoot has been on that list since 1997, and I have never once been in the least bit disappointed (for a complete portrayal of my Switchfoot fanship, see a couple of my earlier blogs). But over the last two years our pop culture hasbeen so inundated by all things Switchfoot, that I didn't know if I was looking forward to this record or not. Oh it wasn't the whole "I-hate-them-now-that-they're-popular" syndrome. Not at all. It was more that Switchfoot always had that ability to fly under the radar and then sneak up on me with flat out great music, and this would be their first CD ever released amid a boatload of expectations.

I have sometimes fancied myself as a music critic of sorts. When I was younger I used to review about every disc I heard. These days I don't have much reason to do so-- unless an album grabs me and forces me to pay extra attention.

Because, I can listen with a critical ear and hone in on different creative things I hear. And I can force myself to respect a disc musically if I want to. Or I can also pretend I don't like a three-chord pop song on the radio (when in actuality I can't stop singing it in the car). And I can try to convince myself that I've matured my musical tastes and am now listening as a musician or some crap like that.

But what it all boils down to is, does the music pursue me or not? Oh it's a subconscious thing. But it's there. I don't like to admit it when I'm not crazy about a new release from one of my "must-buy" artists. Jars of Clay reworked a bunch of hymns on their last disc, and I was really looking forward to it. I loved the concept, I love the first single, and to be honest I really loved a lot of the stuff ontheir once it came out.

But it didn't pursue me. I didn't crave the CD when I wasn't listening to it. I liked it. I like Jars of Clay a lot. Their new releases always live in my player for months after their release. And I loved the idea of reworked hymns. But I flat out didn't listen to it very much. To me that's the true measuring stick.

So enter the new Switchfoot. I like the music. I like the concepts. I like the cover art. I like the song titles. I like the lyrics I've read on the CD jacket. But I didn't really expect this widely-anticipated release from a now popular band to pursue me like it has.

I wanted to like the record, but I was afraid I wouldn't. And I was afraid I would be too loyal to admit it and I was afraid I would have to listen over and over until the new stuff grew on me somewhat. That wasn't necessary in the least. When I'm at work, I wish I was at home listening to the record. When I get to the last song, I wish there were eight more. When I'm driving in my car, no other music is quite satisfactory right now. And I didn't really expect this...
Basically, despite the enormous amount of pressure put on the band--this really does seem to be the next album that they would have made at this point in their career no matter what. It fits chronologically on their artistic timeline--both musically, lyrically, and production-wise.
The thing I like best about this? They're not trying too hard. And they still took risks--like they have on every disc so far. And once again, they snuck up on me. This collection is anything but predictable.

Historically, Switchfoot's mellow, artsy stuff has come off better than their loud attempts. That said, this album's opener "Lonely Nation" is one of the tastiest rock songs you'll ever hear. But the album's opening single "Stars" is easily among the weakest of the thirteen. However, that's more of tribute to the quality of the disc itself than it is an indictment of "Stars."

More to come...