I Learned to Breathe, Now I'm Waiting to Exhale (Contradictory Album Title Trilogy, Part 2)
Written: Apr 01 '03 (Updated Oct 15 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Unique but instantly likeable style, directly spiritual lyrics that aren't too preachy.
Cons: A few flaws in pacing, one needlessly re-recorded older song... insignificant trifles, really.
The Bottom Line: Sound theology meets poetry meets rocking energy meets plain old fun... it's Switchfoot's best album yet, and likely one of the best of 2003.
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| divad23's Full Review: The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot |
Now here's a novel idea: A popular Christian rock band, after paying their dues, honing their skills, and putting out a few solid albums in the process, gets a chance to crack the mainstream and actually deserves it. If this sounds familiar, it's because you've heard bands like Sixpence None the Richer and P.O.D. described in these terms in recent years, and while the description may fit, both bands were a lot more low-profile in CCM before they hit it big in the mainstream, and both bands have issues with being called a "Christian band". The group I'm talking about this time is Switchfoot a group of surfer dudes from San Diego turned theologians who, thanks in part to a little visibility in last year's film A Walk to Remember, but mostly due to their unique and intelligent songwriting style, have managed to land a mainstream deal that could very well take them places.
Now I should make it clear that those "places" aren't likely to be the stratospheric heights of celebrity status that the aforementioned bands have achieved. While they are well known and respected among Christian music fans and critics on both sides of the fence, their mainstream opportunities didn't come about due to a silly fun song about kissing or rocking the party or whatever. Not that the guys don't write songs just for fun every now and then, and not that those other bands weren't deep - it's just that the songs that got Switchfoot noticed were some of their deepest. Mainstream pop star Mandy Moore apparently fell head over heels with their worshipful ballad "Only Hope" and reworked it for her movie last year, which was also gracious enough to feature "I Dare You to Move", one of their deepest songs, at a pivotal moment in the film. It was surreal for me to watch that movie, because since most of what I listen to is Christian music, it's odd to hear a song that I recognize and that means so much to me in a mainstream movie. It's even weirder to realize that the song is resonating with people who may not even share my Christian beliefs. That seems to be the skill that Switchfoot has - they manage to write songs that are theologically sound and able to challenge Christians, and yet at the same time, make good use of poetry and everyday language such that non-Christian listeners can often relate to them. Any songwriter who is a Christian knows that this is not an easy task!
The band is no slouch musically, either. While it took the threesome (now a foursome thanks to the addition of keyboardist/extra guitarist Jerome Fontamillas) a few albums to find their footing (ha!), they've managed to concoct a unique mix where poppy melodies meet crunchy guitars and sing-along choruses meet offbeat alternative-style quirks and nuances. It's edgy but it's not hard. It's defiant but it's not punk. It's beautiful but it's not mushy pop. It's emotionally charged but it sure ain't emo! I guess these contrasts are the best thing I have to work with, since Switchfoot has never really reminded me of any other band for more than a few seconds at a time. They're one of those bands you'll never mistake for another when you hear them on the radio, thanks to Jon Foreman's distinctive (and tough to describe) voice. And with this year's release of The Beautiful Letdown, they may just have put out their best album yet.
That is, if you don't mind that it comes dangerously close to being an attempt to recapture the magic of their last album, Learning to Breathe, and parcel it out to a potential new audience, complete with a repackaging of that album's best song. Perhaps that's the one thing that bugs me. But we'll get there soon enough.
Meant to Live
Dreaming about providence
And whether mice and men have second tries...
If the guitar riff that jumps out of your speakers sounds a tad familiar, it's probably because you're an old-school Switchfoot fan and you're thinking of their first big hit, "Chem 6A". I dare say it sounds like that little ditty about laziness finally decided to get up off its rump and do something meaningful. Fitting, then, that this is what the song is about - being created for something much more worthwhile than just going through the motions of day-to-day life. I had heard it described by some as Switchfoot's most aggressive rocker yet, and while I can see how that's true, it isn't as hot and heavy as I had expected it to be. Still, it locks into a steady groove and it's a good way to set the tone for an album that addresses the universal emptiness we all feel at one point or another.
This Is Your Life
Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over...
I love the synths that start this track off - for a second I want to start singing "Sweet dreams are made of these..." But then some drum programming kicks in and I'm reminded that it's just Switchfoot's newest member at work. I love the bass line and how the electronics make for a tasty new element of the Switchfoot sound, but thematically speaking... Can you say, "I Dare You to Move, Part 2"? While it wouldn't be entirely accurate to just dismiss this new track as a rehash of one of the band's best songs, I still have to point out that the chorus and tempo are strikingly similar and the overall message is the same - "It's up to you and if you waste your time because you're afraid to take any chances, then you only have yourself to blame". It was delightfully inspiring the first time around but feels a little stale at this point. It's also a bit disappointing that this track interrupts the momentum of the album and fades out unassumingly. I realize that Learning to Breathe began with two mid-tempo songs, but that actually made more sense rather than cranking up the intensity on the first track and then letting it settle back down here. But TIYL is still a good song despite its awkward placement.
More than Fine
More than oceans away from the dawn
More than oceans away from who we are...
Currently riding at the top of the Christian Hit Radio charts, this track is one of the most "pop" the band has ever recorded, and yet it doesn't compromise the band's energy one bit. It starts off with what sounds like a heart monitor, which gives way to a contagious beat, over which John begins to sing and Jerome employs a few sampled noises underneath. It isn't too long before Chad Butler breaks in with his usual peppy drum style, which complements the programming nicely. The overall sound here is rich - the acoustic guitar shines through, the electric is thick and muddy where it needs to be, and somebody even throws in a little bit of accordion after the chorus. I can certainly relate to the subject matter here, being a working adult makes it easy to settle into a routine and become complacent with life posing no new challenges and carrying a nagging emptiness at the close of each day. That emptiness is the longing to be "More than fine, more than bent on getting by."
Ammunition
Blame it on your religions
Blame it on politicians...
This feisty rocker had to grow on me a little bit, but fortunately it was the one track I heard before the album released, so it's had plenty of time to do so. It starts off with a muffled drum beat and Tim Foreman noodling around on his bass before the band suddenly takes off running. This gets my vote for the most rocking song on the album and also my personal favorite, even if the subject matter seems at first to deviate from the theme. It's an aggressive but fun song about blame that seems to point an unapologetic finger at Christians who spend too much time picking out all the evils around them and not enough time checking their own hearts. War only begets war, after all, and that's aptly summed up in the urgent chorus where Jon insists, "We've been blowing up, we're the issue, it's our condition." I love how the tension seems to build as he repeats, "We're ammunition, we're ammunition..." and then the song abruptly ends.
Dare You to Move
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where you gonna go, where you gonna go, salvation is here...
I complained about The Juliana Theory re-recording "Into the Dark" for their major label debut, and I'm gonna complain about Switchfoot pulling a similar trick here. Perhaps it was Columbia records who liked the song enough to push for it to re-appear on the new album, but after its appearance on the soundtrack to A Walk to Remember, it just feels shoved down my throat when it resurfaces here. Sure, it may be more eligible to release as a single now, but I honestly think that by this point, anyone who's going to notice the song has already noticed it. This version is a little fuller musically speaking, and just as inspiring as ever, but I miss the more playful feel of the old version - some of the background noise was cut out and Chad doesn't do as many of the cool drum fills that characterized the second verse. It also doesn't flow well out of "Ammunition" and this leads me to feel like I'm listening to a greatest hits record. Not a good thing. Though I'm guessing anyone who's just getting into the band and doesn't own LTB won't mind.
Redemption
With my first down at Your feet
I was running out of mysteries...
Another upbeat song appears here - I have to admit that this one throws me off a bit. I keep losing the beat - it's definitely 4/4, but it seems to want to be unpredictable regarding how many measures it goes through before skipping to the next line of lyrics. This adds a lot of uneasiness and drama to a song about fear leading a man to seek God (in somewhat vague terms, anyway), but for the most part, it seems rushed. It's also the shortest of the songs lyrically, which makes it a little difficult to decipher. It's possible that "redemption's side" refers to Christ being pierced while hanging on the cross after death, but the whole metaphor about fitting "all of my monstrosities inside" seems a bit odd to me. It's my least favorite on the album for now, but that could change as I grow accustomed to it, I guess.
The Beautiful Letdown
We're still chasing our tails and the rising sun
And our dark water planet still spins in a race
Where no one wins and no one's one...
The album's title manifesto is a down-tempo, beat driven tune that offers one of the most accurate descriptions of the church I've ever heard. We Christians tend to view ourselves as generally happy people who have "got it right" and are trying to influence the rest of the world to "get it right", but in reality, none of us would even be Christians in the first place if we had never been disappointed by the world around us. Coming to grips with the need for salvation and the inability to find it in other people or money or fame or whatever else is one thing, but then comes the realization that we ourselves are a letdown. Even after becoming Christians, we still mess up, despite sometimes having the best of intentions. The beauty of Switchfoot's thesis here is that God still loves and works through "the church of the dropouts, the losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools". This song has a lot of cute little nuances, from the echoing background vocals that insist "I don't belong here" to some rougher growls from John to his occasional stumble to fit more words than necessary into one line - stuff that would make their old mentor Charlie Peacock proud.
Gone
Life is much more than fame and rock & roll and thrills
All the riches of the kings end up in wills...
If "Meant to Live" was "Chem 6A" getting serious, then this song is "The Loser" letting loose. It's got a similar syncopation to Switchfoot's brilliant treatise on losing life to gain it, but this time it's sped up and it focuses on the folly of gaining the world and losing your soul. It's one of the most unflinchingly "Christian" songs on the record, but thankfully Switchfoot knows that a serious message doesn't have to stop a song from being fun. As the instruments bounce around and Jon's lyrics follow suit, he does a stellar job of reminding us that "Every day we borrow brings us closer to the edge - infinity." Instead of being morbid about the certain end that awaits everyone, including supposedly timeless icons like Frank Sinatra and "Elvis and his mom", the band seems to delight in how this levels the playing field and serves to remind us short-lived humans about our need to rediscover a connection to God. I love the gleeful "Ha-HAA!" Jon lets out before the band slams into bridge, and Jon's little rant at the end of the song is priceless - he never even gets back to the chorus before the song fades out. Listen carefully for a subtle reference that will make U2 fans chuckle.
On Fire
When everything inside me looks like everything I hate
You are the hope I have for change, You are the only chance I'll take...
If Switchfoot's past albums had any major flaws to them, they usually surfaced in the form of a ballad or two that honestly just bored me ("The Economy of Mercy", "Amy's Song", "You", etc.) Jon's voice tends to be better suited for the more upbeat numbers - when he's trying to be more mellow and serious, his voice can occasionally grate on me. This doesn't turn out to be an issue here, though, as this gentle, piano-driven song manages to be a thing of beauty, thanks to a compelling melody and an interesting keyboard/synth tone that offers a slightly Asian motif. Lyrically, I'm still kicking this one around trying to figure out who it's addressing - I think it's a song of admiration directed to a fellow believer who is "on fire when He's near you". But that later changes to "I'm on fire when you're near me." So maybe it's a song about how that person's joy and love for God is intriguing to someone who isn't a Christian but is curious? I'm not sure. Lovely little song, though.
Adding to the Noise
From the third world to the corporate core
We are the symphony of modern humanity...
Traditionally, past Switchfoot albums have included a "just for fun" song that makes an excellent point in a roundabout way with sarcastic lyrics. "Chem 6A" set the standard, and this was followed up by two of my all-time favorite Switchfoot songs, "Company Car" and "Poparazzi". I admit to being mildly disappointed at the absence of a song that obviously fills that role on TBL, but "Adding to the Noise" ties with "Gone" for being the next best thing. It's a fuzzy, aggressive song that uses modern terminology to echo the sentiment from 1 Corinthians that good deeds done without love are equivalent to the noise of a clanging cymbal. How better to describe this than to make a lot of noise? The guys throw all manner of effects at this short little number, making it sound like a radio at the beginning and cutting it off abruptly at the end, as if the listener has decided to take the advice that they give in the chorus: "If we're adding to the noise, turn off this song." Once again, Switchfoot proves why they're at the top of their game in the modern rock world by using effects and filters and even a humorous little segment where the drums rat-a-tat in perfect synch with each syllable John spits out, all of which conspire to make the song an instant classic.
Twenty-Four
I want to see miracles, to see the world change
I wrestled the angel for more than a name...
The album shifts gears very suddenly as this acoustic ballad breaks in. Jon seems to have a habit of writing songs on the eve of his birthdays - the same introspective process that birthed this song was responsible for "Let That Be Enough" three years prior. (He was turning 22 then, and he wrote this song on the eve of his 25th birthday.) He looks back on the years of his life as if they are but passing hours in a single day, taking poetic license by milking the number for all that it's worth as he depicts a world with "Twenty-four oceans, twenty-four skies, twenty-four failures in twenty-four tries." As the 3/4 rhythm gently sways back and forth, it begins to resemble "Only Hope", especially when it mentions a "symphony" (which of course has "twenty-four parts") and Jon begins to sing a duet with several versions of himself, which brings the song to a brief climax before its fade. I love the rising and falling "oh-OH-oh"s in the chorus and the compact yet profound statement that the listener is left with, "I am the second man now." All at once, the word "second" is a reference to salvation and being born again, and also to the temporary nature of life (that's "second" as in a measurement of time). You'll have that chorus stuck in your head for days, which I'm sure is the intent.
It would be easy to make a bad pun on this album's title and characterize it as a repackaging of the old one with a new member on board, and it is true that many of the themes on this album and the last album run together in my mind at times, but at the same time, I have to admire Switchfoot for not backing down on their main thesis as a band just because they have a mainstream deal and a bunch of potential listeners who aren't Christians. They're not overly preachy or anything - the most overtly Christian lyric is probably "Spirit, take me up in arms with You" on the last song - but they definitely want to challenge listeners, including Christians, to remember that there is more of a purpose to their life than working their 9 to 5 and bringing home the bacon. You have to realize the emptiness inside before you can seek to be filled - you have to be let down before you can be lifted up. So even if I'm still holding my breath for something thematically different from the band, I'm at least grateful that they've reminded us all how to breathe in the first place. I'll give 'em 4.5 rounded up to 5, just to represent that last little bit of potential waiting to be filled on their next record.
ALBUM WORTH:
Meant to Live $2
This Is Your Life $1.50
More than Fine $1.50
Ammunition $2
Dare You to Move $1.50
Redemption $.50
The Beautiful Letdown $1.50
Gone $2
On Fire $1
Adding to the Noise $2
Twenty-Four $2
TOTAL: $17.50
Band Members:
Jon Foreman: Lead vocals, guitar
Tim Foreman: Bass
Chad Butler: Drums, percussion
Jerome Fontamillas: Keyboards, sampling, additional guitars and percussion
Website: http://www.switchfoot.com
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Waking up
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divad23
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Member: David Martin
Location: Pasadena, CA
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Just add an implicit "in my humble opinion" to every sentence I write.
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