Straylight Run. Heard of them? I'm not sure if you have, but if you said yes, you might have differing opinions. Some say they're a boring, teenage alternative band, while some call their music beautifully written. My opinion on them is actually somewhere in the middle; they're not horrible or completely lacking talent, but they're not exactly the greatest band in the world. They have potential: their keyboardist Michelle Nolan creates often beautiful piano melodies and her voice in the lead vocal's role in
Tool Sheds and Hot Tubs and
Now It's Done and backing vocals throughout the album are beautiful. Her brother, lead singer and guitarist John Nolan, also has a nice voice and he can adjust his voice according to the mood of the song. These two are the core of the band, the main part because without them, there is no Straylight Run. The other two members are two friends: Shaun Cooper, the bassist, and drummer Will Noon. Their roles are not as important as usual with an Alternative band, but still necessary. What kind of band doesn't have a bass player or a drummer?
They're a new band from the year 2004, Straylight Run, with the release and explosion of their first and only single off this album,
Existentialism on Prom Night. Existentialism is the belief where the world is meaningless and each person is alone and completely responsible for their own actions, by which they make their own character. Factor that in with "Prom Night" and you have a pretty emotional line. And the song is emotional as well. I seeing the music video introduced me to the band. I fell in love with the song right away. It could be the piano, it could be the voice, but I think what absorbed me the most was the suspense and the emotion that is so obvious. The "Sing like you think no one's listening" sung in the chorus by John is heart-wrenching and inspirational. The guitar in the background and the piano in the intro, repeated in the song create an unbelievable atmosphere.
Of course, this is not the only good song on the album. This CD has a good number of other great songs like
The Tension and the Terror,
Another Word for Desperate, and
Sympathy for the Martyr.
The Tension and the Terror is much more upbeat and poppy than the other great songs on the album, and a change is always welcome. The upbeat feel is probably set by the drums with a lot of hits on the snare, while slowing down at the chorus. The chorus is loud with its power chords and almost yelling vocals by John and backing vocals by Michelle. It reminds me a bit of the Existentialism chorus because it's inspirational and loud compared to the rest of the song.The best part of the song is the bridge, which builds enormously with its short power chords, which leads to a chorus with a guitar solo under it.
Another Word for Desperate is much heavier, somber and actually better in my opinion. A melody is repeated on guitar throughout the song, but depending on the time, it is either the main theme or the quiet backing guitar. Michelle's background vocals are amazing, strong as John's but just as gentle. The drums provide an appropriate beat for the song, skipping a hit on the snare at a certain time. About 4:20 in, the song gets very quiet, hinting at the end, but the drums kick in, repeating the guitar riff added in with violins. The violins are amazingly put, playing seemingly the perfect part for the song.
Sympathy For the Martyr is the final song on the album, and because of its placing, it makes the song better. It's very quiet to start, making it less appealing. But then the chorus is amazing and also inspirational, the lyrics are incredible, John's voice is perfect and the instrumentals set the mood, going minor at exactly the right time. Poppy "ba-ba-ba-da-da-das" aren't really the best thing and actually annoying as hell, but that's pretty much one of the two downsides to the song. The chorus is repeated, but not too much. It fades out very, very slowly, which is why the song is almost 7 minutes long. The actual song is about 5 minutes, but it is stretched amazingly, which kinda annoys me; the other downside.
The songs that didn't quite make it to my favorites list are
The Perfect Ending and
Mistakes We Knew We Were Making. These are by no means bad songs; they just don't have the caliber of the great songs.
The Perfect Ending's lyrics are inspirational, with John singing "So if you made it, just be happy you did and stay there.
If you ever feel loved or needed, remember that you're one of the lucky ones." That's a great line to me, and I think about it a lot. The mood is quiet, with only piano in the entire song under John's wonderful voice. The other "good song" is
Mistakes We Knew We Were Making, which is a much poppier and faster. The best part of the song is the chorus, with inspirational singing and strong power chords. Of course, there is great lyric writing here, with "And all these lines fall short of what I had in mind, a failed attempt to capsulize a feeling, so I just try, fail and try and try again, someday I swear I'm going to get it because I'm convinced that giving in is the worst thing there is." The bridge builds incredibly, with a crescendo and repeats the chorus again. The only thing preventing this song from being elite is because the chorus is repeated one too many times and I think they could've done a little better with the ending. Nevertheless, it's still a great song to listen to.
Easily, the worst songs on the album are tracks 6-10, or the middle through near the end,
Dignity and Money,
Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway),
Tool Sheds and Hot Tubs,
It's For the Best, and
Now It's Done. Obviously these are way too many songs to dislike, which really prevents this album from getting a very good score. The best song of the lot is
Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway). The verse builds but leads into a chorus that doesn't quite live up to expectations. The lyrics don't live up to their incredible standard; a huge letdown. The guitar solo gives a bit to listen for because it's slow, high pitched and even a bit meaningful. The one thing these songs all have in common that makes me dislike them is that they are incredibly repetitive. The repetitive parts aren't even that pleasant to listen to, which makes them very annoying. Unfortunately, the two songs Michelle sings lead are in this bunch. I say unfortunately because it's not her voice or lyrics that make them bad, it's just that the songs aren't musically the best. The worst song in the lot, and ultimately the album, is Tool Sheds and Hot Tubs. It has the same problem as the others: excessively repeated.
I actually gave this album a much higher score than I anticipated. I was estimating a 2 or so, which is why I decided to review it. I really liked the previous reviews for it, but I thought that I'd have a different opinion and view on it. So I started to review it, but soon enough, it grew on me and I fell in love with some songs. As you can see, the middle to the end of the CD, excluding Sympathy For the Martyr, damages the album as a whole. Put better songs in place of those 5 songs and you may have a classic album. Of course, I don't expect every song to be amazing, since every album has its low points. I just think this one has too many. This is also my first review, so as always, constructive criticism, comments and compliments are welcome and appreciated.
Overall Album Rating: 3/5
