| Switchfoot Hello Hurricane |
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 | Tracklist:
1. "Needle and Haystack Life" - 3:49
2. "Mess of Me" - 3:27
3. "Your Love Is a Song" - 4:22
4. "The Sound (John M. Perkins Blues)" - 3:47
5. "Enough to Let Me Go" - 3:52
6. "Free" - 4:03
7. "Hello Hurricane" - 4:04
8. "Always" - 4:20
9. "Bullet Soul" - 3:24
10. "Yet" - 3:53
11. "Sing It Out" - 5:17
12. "Red Eyes" - 4:50
Release Date: 11/10/2009 | |
| | other reviews | Xelis (4)
Breaking free of their label Switchfoot give us their music in its purest form.... | fromtheinside (3.5)
Switchfoot finally sound like themselves, and not some band trying to recapture their insufficient g... |
On 2 Lists
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| Summary: The sound of Switchfoot's tremendous potential fizzling out into a mess of poor songwriting and general laziness. |
12 of 13 thought this review was well written
Switchfoot has never really understood the concept of making a good album. They sure as hell know how to write a good single, that's for sure - but a good album? Never. Despite having the obvious potential, they simply can't balance their act out long enough to make something truly remarkable. Sure, The Beautiful Letdown was benign and catchy and all (so was Nothing Is Sound, for that matter) but it felt incredibly manufactured and, well, fake. Yet peppered amongst the radio-ready, preachy singles like 'Awakening' on 2006's Oh! Gravity. were songs like the brilliant 5/4 'Circles' and the strangely narrative 'Faust, Midas and Myself'. These were the songs that ultimately convinced me that Switchfoot had some potential welled up inside them, ready to lash out and turn heads. Oh! Gravity., as a whole, poisoned me into thinking that Switchfoot would finally create a remarkable album. I thought that Hello Hurricane would see them stretching their artistic horizons and compromising their pseudo-cheesiness for slightly-experimental, intelligent "mainstream" rock. Well, chalk that thought up to delusion: Hello Hurricane is actually, with all due respect, really bad.
The biggest fault with Hello Hurricane is that it's exactly like everything the band has ever done before, only worse. Messy, over-saturated ballads are a dime a dozen on Hello Hurricane ('Your Love Is a Song', 'Always', and 'Yet) and each one of them tries way too hard to be emotional reincarnates of 'The Shadow Proves the Sunshine', collectively falling on their slow-tempoed faces in sorry defeat. Hello Hurricane also has plenty of poorly constructed upbeat songs too, such as the pitiful 'Politicians'-rehashing of 'Sound (John M. Perkins Blues), a song that has a chorus so angsty and undeveloped that it seems the band gave up writing it halfway through recording. Other attempts to recreate the glory of past Switchfoot successes include faux-rock-n-roll lead single 'Mess of Me' and the glaringly bad aggression of 'Free', songs that suffer from beyond-irritating repetition and unconvincing edginess.
It also doesn't help that Jon Foreman - the voice, face and soul of Switchfoot's distinctive sound - sounds nigh atrocious on Hello Hurricane. You need not look past the whiny and tired intonation he uses to carry the chorus hook of 'Needle and Haystack Life' to realize that Foreman is well past his prime both vocally and lyrically. Take, for example, the way he whines his way through 'Yet' ("If it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love"") without any conviction or legitimacy at all - it doesn't sound sincere, it sounds like he wrote a faux-encouraging sap-fest ballad because he knows that's what Switchfoot fans enjoy. On the louder end of things, it's impossible to miss his performance in the Atomic Bomb era U2 tribute 'Bullet Soul', a song that has Foreman screaming out "ARE YOU READY TO GO?!" over distorted riffs in complete apathy. He doesn't sound good and he definitely doesn't sound excited - he just sounds like he's yelling. Or maybe he has a nasty cold. The problem is that Foreman sounds bad on Hello Hurricane and the fact that Switchfoot’s sound rests on his ability as a frontman does not bode well in the scheme of things.
Lastly, Switchfoot never touch up on the experimentalism they presented on Oh! Gravity. They never expand on the creative nuances they seemingly possessed and instead fall back into a constant quest for familiarity. That’s not to say that it doesn’t succeed at least once or twice though: closing songs ‘Sing It Out’ and ‘Red Eyes’ actually manage to be great songs (although they don’t quite distract the listener from the rest of the album) despite their aversion to experimenting and trying new things. 'Sing It Out' begins forebodingly with moody electronics and general ambience before reaching a relative climax and closing with some sinister strings. 'Red Eyes' finishes the album off with an almost-satisfying, folkier style tune that is marginally enjoyable (that is, before a music box interlude drags the song on two minutes longer than it needed to). Unfortunately, the rest of the album is inexcusable. Looking back at Hello Hurricane as a whole, two decent songs do not save an album brimming with mediocrity. As nothing more than a set of lifeless songs that radiate apathy and cliches, Hello Hurricane is simply the sound of Switchfoot's tremendous potential fizzling out into a mess of poor songwriting and general laziness. Consider all hope for Switchfoot cashing in on their potential dashed -- Hello Hurricane is a stagnant, unthoughtful album by a band that could do much, much better.
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hope youre wrong hope youre wrong
Digging: The National - Alligator
| | | Album Rating: 2
I am 99% sure you won't enjoy this strikey
Stream: http://www.myspace.com/switchfoot
Digging: The Red Chord - Fed Through the Teeth Machine | | |
Meh. I had a Switchfoot cd once.
Digging: This Is Your Captain Speaking - Storyboard
| | | Album Rating: 3
Gah... I was so excited for this after hearing Foreman's solo stuff, and all I get is another typical Switchfoot record, recycled. Further proving my point that the guy is best with an acoustic guitar and minimal production.
I wouldn't say his voice is going downhill, it's just that he's pushing it too high out of his range (esp. on 'Needle...'), and because of that, he cant get the control/inflections he needs to make it emotive.
Digging: Sufjan Stevens - The BQE | | |
Sad face. Was maybe looking forward to listening to a song off this once in a while. Good review.
Digging: The Dream the Chase - Found Again
| | | Album Rating: 2
shortone, have you heard Nothing Is Sound or Oh! Gravity.?
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since when was i strikey to you caleb i feel broken
i am now 78% certain i wont enjoy it
| | | Album Rating: 2
if i call you "adam", you could be redskyformiles, if i call you "knott" i am too tempted to make a pun
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Okay, firsty:
Switchfoot has never really understood the concept of making a good album.
Fuck you. Nothing is Sound was fantastic, easily one of the strongest pop records of that year. Discrediting any of their previous records is mostly an ill-advised move, too.
Secondly, I think you mean "with all due respect", not "in".
Also, what's with all the props for Oh!? Probably their weakest record (having not heard this, which I will).
xoxo
Digging: Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
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Well this is disappinting.
The album, not the great review, of course.
I was looking forward to this, the album, not the review, I didn't know you were planning on it.
Digging: Maths - Descent
| | | Album Rating: 2
if i call you "adam", you could be redskyformiles, if i call you "knott" i am too tempted to
make a pun
Knott likely
Digging: Peter Combe - Peter Combe's Christmas Album | | | Album Rating: 2
Nothing is Sound was fantastic, easily one of the strongest pop records of that year.
Nothing Is Sound is a good record but it's missing a lot in it's latter half - 'Golden', 'The Setting Sun' and 'Politicians' really drag the record down. This is how I find all of the band's albums (except this one, naturally) to be, half made up of awesome, awesome songs, the other half made up of significantly lesser tunes.
Also, what's with all the props for Oh!?
Oh! Gravity. has some of their worst songs, granted, the strong songs on that album are their strongest songs period and would've been natural keys of progression if they took a less recycled direction with this album.
I guess my point is that every album Switchfoot has made feels strangely incomplete.
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What the shit. "Politicians" is one of the best songs on the album, and "The Setting Sun" is great, too.
Also, "has made feels"? Is you problem English today why not yes?
| | | Album Rating: 2
What the shit. "Politicians" is one of the best songs on the album, and "The Setting Sun" is great, too.
'The Fatal Wound' is better than both of those and you know it. Oh man, I love that song.
English is my second language, David.
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Yeah, pretty good track.
And if you can become a friggin' contrib with english as your second language it shouldn't be a problem y'allzzzz
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typed loads, site lost it
band is good, when they're good they're amazing, when they're bad they're average, and i want them to release a consistent album.
SAEAFAFEAFFE.
| | | Album Rating: 2
Obviously I'm a pretty good liar too.
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haha what
Digging: Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
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You're a bad boyfriend
| | | Album Rating: 2
I really haven't listened to much of these guys cept the singles.
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