Straylight Run is a band filled with enigmas. How can a band be so genius in one song, yet so uninteresting and pedantic in another song? It's a puzzle that has plagued many bands. After a 6 song demo released on the internet and their solid though inconsistent debut, Straylight Run picked themselves up a small but loyal fanbase. People were clamoring for more. Unfortuneately, the people wanted too much it would be safe to say. Any diehard SR fan would be disappointed with an EP filled with one good song and 5 average, typical SR songs. And that was my original impression of
Prepare To Be Wrong. I heard the songs, and I was saddened, because the brilliance of the debut's gems
Existentianalism on Prom Night and
Sympathy For The Martyr was acheived only once or twice, with 4 or 5 mehh songs backing it up. But through careful observance and patience, I relaized that this charming little EP is far more consistent and solid when compared to their 11 track LP. And maybe... it's better?
The image of Straylight Run, at least for me, has always been a beautiful band with the aspirations of making it freakin huge, but they come up short. They want to get their names in the heads of the youth of America who don't cut themselves, wear flannel shirts, write graffiti, or pretend to be from the ghetto. They are the normal kid's champion, able to not invent angst like so many bands out there, but acknowledge the fact that they've led good lives, and they don't need to invent pain to make their music sound better. The only track related to some anger is the TBS hating
A Slow Descent. And that track was written long before this EP came out, in fact it was one of the original SR songs to be seen on the intenet demo. Diehards may already know this, but the song is written about how much vocalist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper hated their time in emo-superstar band Taking Back Sunday (Thus the line "A Slow Descent from unique to routine"). It's a theme that has been a focal point for these guys for a while, and while at first it seemed novelty, now it's just getting old. The song itself, however, sounds like a remixed
A Perfect Ending, the ironically titled opener of the debut. Complete with cellos and John reaching, reaching, reaching... and hitting the high note,
A Slow Descent is a typical SR song, but this time much more powerful as you watch it build in front of you.
Moments of
Prepare To Be Wrong can be epic. Most songs in whole are ever epic though, save for the final two numbers, due to average lyrics and a knack for never getting anywhere. The opener, the dragging
I Don't Want This Anymore is a Michelle piece, where she takes the lead. It's been impossible for me to enjoy her lead songs, and I don't know quite why. Perhaps it's the fact that her angelic voice in the background suggests heaven in a roundabout way. But when you get to heaven, it's never as good as you thought it was. The only Michelle song on PTBW,
I Don't Want This Anymore is a track that at first glance is another drawn out opener. And in fact it is. Save for a few moments where Michelle's harmonies jump into a dark minor key, and John's far-away lover cries in the background, the song never goes anywhere. The same could be said for it's follow-up,
It Never Gets Easier, accept this time it's a John piece, and it's guitar heavy. But still the only direction it moves is side-to-side, never forward. The middle track,
Later That Year, the one which kicks off a loose three song tie-in, is a far more interesting piece than it's openers. You really feel the EP start to get going around here, as Michelle sings, in a perfect church choir voice, a lovely soprano part. Now, many SR songs have this annoying talent for saying the same line over again, with just a lot of instrumental buildup behind it. This can be a good thing, like in the Ba-ba-da's of the debut's grand finale,
Sympathy For The Martyr, or it can be a bad thing. Here it's a bad thing, as John inexplicably contemplates some sort of metaphysic puzzle, repeating "We Did The Math, It wasn't worth it after all." It's possible to get occasionally lost in the buildup, but in an uninebriated state, it's just long.
What is it about Bob Dylan that makes us love him so much? Is it something about his rather unmelodious singing, his signature musicians aura? Or his message? I think it's the last one. Bob Dylan was a pioneer of peace, love, and all things 60's, except without the hippie bull***. Straylight Run has the balls to cover one of his more powerful pieces on here, with the song
With God On Our Side. It begins with a powerful Dylan-line, "My Name It Ain't Nuthin/ My Age It Means Less/ The Country I Come From/ Is Called The Midwest" and grandly crescendos throughout the song. With each more recent war, another instrument is added. It's in perfect folk form, as it's just the same melody over and over again, and it's so beautiful. It carries just as much bite and meaning as it did back then, only back then we were fighting a war we had no business being in in the first place. Wait....
Prepare To Be Wrong sees Straylight Run trying to reach out to a broader audience. The only real track that has any real pop-appeal is, unsurprisingly, the single,
Hands In The Sky. Now it's been known that many bands are democratic, anti-war, whatever. I don't care. A band like Straylight Run going protest? Intriguing. For a band who's debut theme felt like sitting on the front porch waiting for something to happen to take such a sharp veer to the left is a surprising move. Lines like "Italicized Lies/ Headlines/ Bold Type" are a shockigly blatant attack on media propoganda, taking the American Idiot theme to a far more gentle, but just as angry level. The song builds with amazing repressed intenstiy, and John and Michelle harmonize so beautifully, it's gut-wrenching. The song begins to take on a scary feel when John croons, almost insanely, the line "We Want You/ Have To/ Neeeeeeed You/ And We'll tell you when they're hungry again/ It never ends..." Michelle comes in and screams the final line with a haunting echo, and the march of a thousand soldiers enters. Words cannot describe the two minutes that follow. Powerful? Yes. Epic? Yes. Genius?... Yes. I can't put it into sentences, but just prepare to be entranced. Prepare to forget everything you knew about Straylight Run. Maybe, as the EP's title suggests, Prepare To Be Wrong.
Grade: B
Recommended Tracks
Hands In The Sky (Big Shot)
With God On Our Side
Pros
A shockingly politcal turn for the band.
More consistent than the debut.
A few epic moments, and a few epic tracks.
Perhaps it's more agreeable to listen to the album backwards.
Cons
A few average SR songs.
Some songs tend to drag.
Please Rate And Reply
The Official
This Message Edited On 11.09.06
