Your Best Friend
Your Best Friend

Release Date: 2008 | Tracklist

In November of 2008, I took an evening off work to drive two hours to a couple friends house in the almost non-existent town of Grinnell, Kansas. These friends frequently hosted house shows with touring artists with whom they’d perform their own indie/folk duet. Their audience usually only consisted of middle aged and elderly family members with their children, who would only barely fill their average-sized living room. Most of these people enjoy contemporary country music. The most daring of them indulge themselves with some “good ol’ classic rock.” The audience this night was no exception. The artists that usually accompanied my friends in their performance were similar folk and indie acts who only affected this typical audience with minimal culture shock. However, this particular night, to my delight, the touring band did not fit this profile. This band was Your Best Friend. I enjoyed their performance greatly, and promptly purchased their self titled debut following the show.

It seems Your Best Friend have some difficulty describing themselves in genre terms. They simply settle on calling themselves a rock band, offering no additional specifics. I have similar difficulty classifying them in a genre but I often use the term “progressive pop-punk” when doing so. The term itself is an oxymoron. However, I will defend my contradiction. The band equally uses progressive and pop elements in their song structure and overall sound. This technique has its pros and cons. When listening to the album for the first few times, it may be hard to recognize the chorus of many of the songs. Upon my first listen, I only noticed that the first track, “Dear Heavenly Father,” had a distinct, repeating verse-chorus structure. While this made the song very accessible, and an obvious choice as a first track, it also made it seem unremarkable in my opinion, and my least favorite. Whereas, my favorite track off the album, “The Path of an Illogical Liar,” has no chorus to speak of, but is easily the most catchy and “pop-punk” song. This song opens with a very catchy vocal line and plays out as simply three consecutive verses before closing with a climactic finish. “Keeping Company” follows in the same vein, appealing to the listener with guitar-driven hooks and slowly building energy throughout, yet again does not follow a verse-chorus structure.

A distinct quality of this band is the lack of a lead singer. With the exception of the gang vocals on “Aboriri”, vocals on this record are shared by bassist, Dale Brown, and guitarists, Steve Sochanek and John Bonham (no, not that John Bonham). These members share the lead vocal line trading back and forth frequently, such as in the verses of “Dear Heavenly Father,” which is reminiscent of Brand New’s, “Sic Transit Gloria.” They execute these transitions gracefully, keeping things interesting at moments where a single lead voice would become boring or awkward to pull off live (as in mentioned Brand New song). Also, these three are often singing separate lines simultaneously, which can become distracting or cluttered, but usually creates a very good blend. A great example of this blend is demonstrated in one of the heaviest songs on the album, “Decimals.” Though I enjoy this song greatly every time I listen to this album, I cannot express the elegance and energy this song carries when performed live, especially the a cappella verse just before the breakdown.

Despite the busy vocal harmonies, these guys can definitely play their instruments well. I admit I was impressed to see Steve Sochanek effortlessly sing the lead line while jamming out the finger-tapped guitar part on “Near Perfect Wrists,” which is another spectacle as a live performance. The guitar parts alternate between rocking out complex chords and clean, melodic fills. Also, the role Dale plays as bassist is another appealing quality to me. The bass is always audible, very often providing the melody rather than a root note to tie everything together. That role is left to drummer, Nick Edler, who does a fine job of tying everything together, while matching, or exceeding the technicality of the other instruments. Several songs on the album make use of complex time signatures, yet transition back into a catchy, 4/4 rhythm, and Nick’s drumming makes these transitions very listenable, despite their complexity.

As a whole, this album is very solid and very consistent. When you ask fans their favorite Your Best Friend song, you get a wide variety of answers. This band has a very distinct sound. This can be considered a con upon the first few listens, simply because the songs start sounding the same. But this effect lessens the more one listens to the record. The listener will begin to hear the distinct qualities in each song and develop their own opinion of the highlights of the album. My personal favorites are “Keeping Company,” “The Path of an Illogical Liar,” “Decimals,” and “Aboriri.” The last track on the album, “Aboriri” provides the perfect sense of closure. However, it this song emphasizes the short length of the album, which is the only flaw that really bothers me. The album is just over thirty minutes long. However, the band has just recently released an acoustic EP, called “Ghosts,” and is currently recording their second record. I anticipate nothing short of greatness from these guys in the future.

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4 excellent

Rank: #0 for 2008