We Know by Now to Say Enough

One of the best shows MTV has ever produced, back when they actually has musical programs, was the iconic Unplugged. Almost the music heavyweights from the eighties and nineties picked up the acoustic guitar for the seminal series. Then MTV switched to a lifestyle network and the show disappeared. It was later picked up by its sister station MTV2 (keep in mine this was also back in a time when MTV2 actually showed videos before it became a second rate Cartoon Network and a place of MTV castoff show). Needless to say I was excited to see the show’s return although one of the bands on the lineup, Dashboard Confessional, I wasn’t really aware of.

What surprised me when I tuned into their performance was how the lead singer didn’t even sing much as the audience took over and more times than not drowned him out when he did sing. The songs were refreshing as teen pop and rap-metal dominated the channel with heart on their sleeve songs. A few years and an album later, the band is back with more of the same for their new album Dusk and Summer.

The album starts off with the bombastic Don’t Wait where Chris Carraba sets the tone early with belting out a soaring intro. That energy keeps up for most of the album which actually is a downside of the album because it sounds as if they are trying to hard to make stadium anthems. But I’m not sure crowds are ready to sing “My capillaries scream” along with Carraba as that phrase gets old soon. And what is that metaphor supposed to mean anyways? I let Screaming Infidelities slide because the phrase sounded cool, but I’m going to need an explanation to how, why capillaries scream.

One of few times they do take it down a notch is for So Long, So Long. It’s almost apropos that Adam Duritz helps out with vocals on the song because Counting Crows mastered the heart on the sleeve song long before Dashboard Confession came along. Currents followes the same theme but unfortunately, Duritz didn’t rub off enough to help the rest of the album sound mediocre at best. Then again, Duritz hasn’t had that much of a rub on his own band’s last couple albums.

Song to Download - So Long, So Long

Dusk and Summer gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.