Washington-based Daphne Loves Derby has been undeservedly flying under the emo-core radar for a couple years now. Their first release, an EP titled Closing Down The Pattern Department, hinted at great things to come, with catchy hooks, excellent musicianship, and great lyrics and singing. Their first full-length album, On The Strength Of All Convinced, was no let-down, picking up right where their EP left off.

DLD's style is very similar to bands like Dashboard Confessional or Straylight Run, but with a distinctly grunge-esque edge to their sound. The first single, Hammers And Hearts, serves as a good intro to the band as a whole, with one of the catchier hooks I've heard in a while. Singer Kenny Choi has the prototypical, just-barely-nasal emo voice, but it sounds much warmer than most of his peers, and he hits his notes well throughout the entire record.

Songs range from upbeat and driving (Hammers And Hearts, Kirby, If You're Lucky No One Will Get Hurt), to the obligatory acoustic ballads (A Year On An Airplane, Pollen And Salt). The common theme throughout is very intricate melodies between guitarists Choi and Spencer Abbott, with some occasional room for bassist Stu Clay to show off his chops, particularly on Middle Middle, a great song in the Weezer, Island In The Sun mold. The interesting style quirk DLD has is that their songs manage to seem both cheerful and moody at the same time, a feat I think requires a good understanding of chord progressions and the like.

Production-wise, everything sounds right in terms of volume, although one could definitely make the case that things sound a little bit over-processed at times. Personally, I don't mind all that much. I'd much rather listen to a slightly over-processed record like this one that sounds smooth and is aesthetically pleasing over some of the bands that refuse to find singers good enough to hold their own anywhere ::coughFallOutBoycough::

The lyrics Choi writes deal with the typical emo topics of love and the like, but they border on metaphoric a lot of the time. Choi has a way of writing away from the point, almost. If you actually look at the lyrics, you can tell what they're about, but the lines aren't cliches like "I need you here" over and over, which I really like. My favorite example, taken from You Versus The Sea:

I've been dreaming that I found you staying in the sea
Then you told me that's where you've been
You said that the water's cold but still warmer than your skin
I tried to help you but the closer I got, the further you walked away...away

In terms of faults, DLD has a couple. One huge one is the lack of a stand-out track to carry the album. None of these songs are catchy enough throughout to get stuck in your head for a week, let alone five minutes after Track 12 is over. The other is a lack of really good choruses. A chorus needs to be catchy and kind of "soar" for it to be good (at least in my book), and DLD fails pretty miserably here. You can't really tell a chorus from a verse anywhere in this CD because the whole thing just sort of melts together.

Other than that, DLD has a solid, but far from great CD on their hands. If the songwriting improves on their next disc, Daphne Loves Derby might just start flying above the radar for once.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying