Dusk and Summer

by

Dashboard Confessional

Edit

Dusk and summer! This album is amazing. Chris really expands on here and makes his work sound more mature and full, with the band and use of different instruments, etc. I'm not saying his acoustic work isn't good; The Brilliant Dance, Screaming Infedelities, So Impossible and A Plain Morning are some of my favorite songs ever, but this new side of DC is equally as good in my opinion. The beginings of this album are really good songs but not exactly songs to start you off through the album. I dont know if anyone else found this out, but if you rewind back from the beginning of Don't Wait, there are two secret songs. One I don't know the name of, and Vindicated. I would have never have found this out but my cd player plays it from the straight begining.

Untitled track 5/5: This song really gets the mood going. It sounds as if it was supposed to be on The Places You Have come to Fear the Most, but it is alot more upbeat and the drums and piano and guitar is really driving.

Vindicated 4/5: This was never really my favorite song. Probably because it was played so much on the radio in the past couple years. But nevertheless it is a good song.

Don't Wait 4/5: This is a far stretch from traditional DC, as this whole album mostly is. Chris really belts out the lyrics in this song. The first single off the album.

Reason To Believe 5/5: The first dark sound dashboard song i have ever heard. (By the way i have never listen to the album prior to this, so i dont know if im right) The guitars are driving and Chris is belting once again.

Secret's in the Telling 5/5: No doubt this is the next single. This song to me is somewhat reminiscent to Vindicated.

Stolen 5/5: One of my favorite songs on the CD. This is more of a slower song and the lyrics and melodies really great. The lyrics and music go really good together.

Rooftops and Invitations 5/5: One of the more upbeat happy sounding songs. Really good mood here.

So long, so long 6/5: THE BEST song on this album. I promise you. This song is a straight up ballad. When I first heard that Chris would be doing a duet with the singer from Counting Crows, I was skaptic because i was never a big Counting Crows fan. But his voice and Chris's together is breathtaking. This song is so amazing and the lyrics are awesome. By far one of the best of Chris's masterpieces.

Currents 4/5: A chilled out song. Not really DC sounding but it really is good.

Slow Decay 3/5: This song is okay. I don't tend to like the dark mood this whole song has. This is almost hard rock sounding. The lyrics do have alot of meaning in them though.

Dusk and Summer 5/5: The other acoustic song on the album. I really like this song it reminds me of summer (obvously). Chris hits the highest notes i think i have ever heard him hit at the end of this songs.

Heaven Here 4/5: This is more ambient sounding. Its good but it use of different instruments makes it different.

All in all i like this cd a whole lot. I got it when i was at the beach so i was all corny and listened to it on the beach. But it really is a summer cd and is awesome.

Oddly enough, I am one of the few people who consider "A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar" to be Dashboard's best album to date, but I absolutely loved that album, which is why I was so anticipating the release of "Dusk and Summer". Chris Carraba's lyrics have always been some of the best around, and I love the combination of those lyrics, in his strained tenor, along with the simple little guitar melodies. On "Dusk and Summer", most of the simplicity is gone, replaced instead by a full band sound and slamming guitar riffs you would expect to find on a Blue October album. Now, not all of the songs are second rate. The first single, "Don't Wait", is one of the standout tracks on the album, along with the melodic "Currents" and the tune "So Long, So Long", which Carraba sings alongside Counting Crows' Adam Duritz. These are the few standouts on an otherwise mediocre album that leaves me wondering where Dashboard might go next. I hope he goes and purchases another acoustic guitar and reads some more of those angst ridden books-of-the-month that inspired so many wonderful tracks before "Dusk and Summer".