My daughter is listening to cooler music than I did at her age (thirteen).

She also owns a lot more music at her age than I did (zero).

Doesn't mean she's gonna get a car earlier than I did, though - I'm gonna keep her off the streets as long as possible.
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introducing CCM's pace car

Lame introductory segue aside, Katy's music collection is pretty good, and she's got several CDs that I really enjoy. (Please don't tell her that - she'll probably lose interest in these albums as soon as she finds out her dad likes them) One of these albums is by a Christian rock band that has gone from zero to sixty really quickly…

On the road to artistic success, there are bound to be some bumps in the road, a breakdown or two (or three or four…) In fact, most musicians don't even make it onto the music business super-highway; most get stuck on the side of the road, overheated, flat broke, trying to thumb a ride back home. Southern California's Switchfoot is one of those groups that managed to safely make it's way onto the Christian rock on-ramp and then merged quickly into mainstream traffic. I think that this band is cruising along better than Amy Grant, DC Talk or Stryper (!eeek!) ever did.

Switchfoot has moved their career along nicely from their start with 1997's The Legend of Chin - in 1999, New Way to Be Human accelerated the band to the front of the Christian music pack, a pace they maintained with 2002's Learning to Breathe. Appearing on the soundtrack for Mandy Moore's A Walk To Remember put them squarely in position to move into the mainstream, and they made the most of the opportunity with The Beautiful Letdown in 2003. The pedal hit the metal when ready-for-the-WB-network tracks This is Your Life and Dare You to Move roared onto the airwaves.
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featuring solid body construction

I'm half-baked
I'm fake
But see I got hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk
And 200 bucks
I pass Go, but oh,
Life's takin' it's toll
Have I won Monopoly to forfeit my soul?
-excerpted from Company Car

Switchfoot doesn't shy away from the fact that they are a Christian band, but they also know how to craft a smart lyric that maintains their message without being preachy. Covering subjects that affect us all in a manner that young adults can readily identify with, the band has the right blend of sound and subject that allows for them to stay grounded in their faith while keeping all the cool points they've earned with their wider audience. A lot of Christian bands have tried to pull off both, but maybe it's because they try so hard to do both that they fail more often than not. Switchfoot hasn't changed their approach to how they write lyrics since their start, and since the message has always been a part of the sound, the combination stays intact, genuine and fresh. Here are a couple examples from New Way to Be Human that touch on the presence of God from two different perspectives, one of praise and one of desperation:

Under the floor
Between me and the door
There's a presence I cannot deny

It's under the car
Between me and the stars
I see glory filling up the sky

And I'm certain that He hears me
He listens even as I sing my song
I'm emphatic that He's near me
And I can see His touch in everything here
-excerpted from Under the Floor


And it all seems so helpless
And I have no plans
I'm a plane in the sunset
With nowhere to land

And all I see
It could never make me happy
And all my sand castles
Spend their time collapsing

Let me know that You hear me
Let me know Your touch
Let me know that You love me
Let that be enough
-excerpted from Let That be Enough
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and an upgraded, though quirky, sound system

If you've only heard Switchfoot's most recent and most popular album The Beautiful Letdown, rest assured that you'll find the band's second album New Way to Be Human a familiar and comfortable ride. Switchfoot's sound isn't completely unique - they are primarily an alternative rock band that occasionally sounds anthemic like Oasis, sometimes light, fuzzy and crunchy like Smashmouth, and even busting out a Dave Matthews-like vocal tone now and then. But this isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't drive me to distraction, and hey, my daughter doesn't know those other groups yet, so to her, it's all good.

One of the assets that the band has is the skills of it's producer, Charlie Peacock. In addition to numerous pop and rock production credits, Charlie's a talented jazz and pop artist in his own right. I think that he allows for Switchfoot to try new things, new sound combinations and interesting chords - ah, yes, the chords! This car's sound system isn't afraid to pump out atypical power chords as the Miles tick by. Several choruses sport familiar sounds common to the alternative genre, but in the verses, there are some melodies that take interesting, unexpected turns. One thing - the Dare You to Move interval from that song's chorus pops up several times on this album; I guess if something works, you keep using it. But since this album came first, I'll reserve my judgment for it's appearance in more recent material.

But Peacock doesn't always know when to apply the brakes… Among the crunchy guitars and cheap synthesizer sounds, there are a too many bells and whistles - literally. The sound gets a little thick in places; sometimes there is just too much happening, too much clever all at the same time. In the title track, the admittedly catchy chorus nearly overheats from all the gadgets and doo-hickeys working all at once; I'd really like for the guitars to just take over and power out the chorus instead of the Wonderwall of sounds under the hood of this beast.

Fortunately, the band redeems itself with the very next track. Despite stealing a guitar hook from the B-52's, Incomplete doesn't roam where it wants to. All the cleverness happens in the verse and bridge, but that is all thrown out the power windows when the guitars shift into high gear for the chorus.

Sooner or Later (Soren's Song) is a grunge power ballad, in a Nirvana-ish sort of way, I suppose. But Kurt and Co never resorted to cellos and trippy effects like this one - with this extra stuff in the trunk, this one doesn't corner as nicely as I think it could, but the cool chords in the chorus make it an interesting listen.

Previously mentioned Company Car has a horn section in sections, but nothing as entertaining as fellow SoCal hipsters OC Supertones ever sported. These horns sound more like your father's old Chicago albums, truth be told, and so again, it's more sound for sound sake that overloads a good song. Not bad as such, just unnecessary.
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needs some new paint, but it gets decent mileage

And that's my basic assessment after taking this CD out for an extended test drive - the songs and their message are solid, the performances are great, but there's just too much going on in far too many places for the album to be truly excellent. Stripping this one down to the primer would really help some of these tunes, but just some consistency across the entire album would make it cherry. This album still has a lot more horsepower than most anything else on that Christian music frontage road, even by today's standards. There are a lot of Christian bands trying to keep pace with Switchfoot, but I think the band has left most of them in the dust, and for any of them to catch up, they are going to have to find a New Way to be Human all on their own.
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Switchfoot - New Way To Be Human
Originally released March 23, 1999 by Re:Think
All song lyrics are the copyrighted property of their owners

Track Listing
New Way To Be Human / Incomplete / Sooner or Later (Soren's Song) / Company Car / Let That Be Enough / Something More (Augustine's Confession) / Only Hope / Amy's Song / I Turn Everything Over / Under the Floor

Recommended: Yes