Oh! Gravity.

by

Switchfoot

Edit

I'm an older (almost, gulp, 40) pop, indie, alternative music fan who came across a great pop song on the radio titled "Stars." Bought it on iTunes, enjoyed it. By this band called "Switchfoot."

I recently saw a new album by Switchfoot on Amazon (released on my birthday, Dec. 26th!) and thought, what the heck, let's see if there are any good "Stars"-like songs on it. Digressing, I appreciate solid albums (yeah, 10-12 songs long) that don't force you to skip songs and provide an emotional ride (haven't had many of those since the peak of U2, R.E.M., Coldplay, Radiohead, etc.). To say the new Switchfoot album was a complete surprise is the understatement of the decade. And then I found out they were a "Christian" band (I love labels) and I was like, really? Don't care one way or the other, because this is an awesome rock/pop whatever-you-want-to-label-it album.

Partial credit must go to Steve Lillywhite - he has this knack of getting the most pop (yeah, I like pop songs - sue me) out of rock bands, while keeping the emotional strengths and solid musicianship. Look at Dave Matthews Band - their first three albums (love em or hate em) are incredible pop rock albums with emotion to boot. Nothing they have done since ditching Mr. Lillywhite have been nearly as good. So, even though I have not heard Switchfoot's catalog, I must give credit in part to Mr. Lillywhite for the incredibly pleasant surprise that is "Oh! Gravity."

Enough blathering - every song has something interesting about it, whether it be soaring guitars (the build up to and chorus of "Head Over Heels"), awesome singing (screaming in "Oh! Gravity" and "Awakening"), heartfelt emotion ("Head Over Heels" and "Yesterdays"), kick-a** rhythms (the whole album) and interesting musical touches throughout ("Dirty Second Hands" "Faust" and my favorite, "4:12"). The lyrics and emotion feel honest, not forced, and definitely provide some solid messages for this time (excess - bad, having a heart - good). And while its sounds like a mid-90's song by Gutterball (look it up), "Amatuer Lovers" rocks out and places a giddy smile on my face every time I hear it.

I highly recommend this album - you may not rate every song a five out of five, but you have to appreciate a rock band that can do a lot of different things interestingly and well without pretention and with passion. Congratulations to Switchfoot - you have a hard core new fan. I can only imagine how fun it would be to hear these songs live...