Review Summary: The only way Incubus will really be disappointing is when they don’t explore their own abilities in creating music, and for me they are yet to disappoint. Whether the songs are for you or not Incubus’ bravery and creativity is something to admire
The question is whether Incubus can retain their integrity as one of the world’s great alternative bands. Frankly, this is a stupid question. Of course they can, I mean who can forget the creative genius that was S.C.I.E.N.C.E. So what does Trust Fall Side A mean for all this? Well essentially it’s clear that Incubus still have the mind of a band who doesn’t really know where they’re going, which is rather brave.
The leading single for the EP was Absolution Calling which begins with a sort of techno intro, which angered many people despite the fact that THEY HAVE A DJ. This track is neither hugely exciting nor disappointing. It tries to climax, however doesn’t quite deliver the way we know Incubus is capable of. The best part of Absolution Calling is the spacey and distorted guitar lines of Mike Einziger which sounds like it could have come from the Sick Sad Little World guitar solo, which if you haven’t heard it is a very, very good thing.
Incubus fans probably would’ve gotten a better impression of what Incubus are up to if they used Trust Fall as the leading single, as it ticks just about every box for a song that you’d find on an album like Morning View. The beautifully distorted chordal guitar intro by Einziger, climaxing spectacularly to a rock riff with a call and response style with highs and heavy lows. The song is riveting all the way through and eventually fades out to the sound of Brandon Boyd and Ben Kenney saying lyrics in a rather poetic way. Though this isn’t the first song released it’ll be the first to hear when you put on the EP.
As a contrast you have Make Out Party which is almost confusing to Incubus fans. The combination of Kenney’s thick, heavy bass tones and Boyd’s falsetto vocals creates a quite sensual atmosphere, but it’s probably just Boyd’s teenage-like lyrics speaking of pretty much just what you’d expect from a song called Make Out Party. The connotation here isn’t negative though, it’s once again another direction for Incubus, which may lead them further into the world of Alternative Pop Rock, if there is such a thing. Oh and the synths, some may complain but it works especially for this track, I mean in a Shawshank way, if they went that far, I guess they were willing to go a little further.
As for Dance Like You’re Dumb, well there’s not much to say about this one. You read the title before hearing it and think “oh *** it’s gonna be pop” and are half relieved to find it may as well be Switchblade Part II. It’s fun and catchy, but doesn’t leave much of a mark on this EP at all. I can’t say I’d be upset if they left it out of a live setlist.
If Not Now, When? Was centred pretty much entirely on Brandon’s vocal work, and it’s nice to see everyone in the band having a huge impact on this EP. As well as the glorious bass tones, Ben Kenney’s voice can be heard it pretty much all of these songs, while DJ Kilmore can be heard loud and clear to the joy of old Incubus fans. As for Einziger and Pasillas, well they never fail to amaze.
