Gin Blossoms
Congratulations... I'm Sorry

This album and its story would fit well in a self-esteem and leadership manual: having lost the "boss" as well as the author of most of the songs (in truth, done away with) just at the peak of their success, and then dealing with their respective consciences and any feelings of guilt for the suicide of their expelled companion, the remaining Gin Blossoms band together and roll up their sleeves. Against all odds, two years after "New Miserable Experience," they poke their noses out with an EP; two more years of efforts and here they are, ready with a new album. Call it "where there's a will, there's a way."

The result? Even better than the previous work. Compared to "New Miserable Experience," this "Congratulations... I'm Sorry" has no acoustic "lapses" or tunes that align with American guitar traditions, except for the country rock of "Memphis Time." Moreover, aside from "Competition Smile," it doesn't have the flaw of featuring those typical pop campfire tunes in the style of R.E.M.

The rest of the tracklist, although the band doesn't betray its root origins, consists of very catchy but sturdy songs, well supported by a non-elementary use of guitars, all electric. Thus, extremely effective tracks emerge, on par with the singles from the previous work (if not better), like "My Car," "Perfectly Still," or the highly successful "Follow You Down." This results in the classic and uncompromising rock of "Day Job," the punk-college rock of "White Wash," and the less invigorating but charming mid-tempo electrics like "Highwire" and "I Can't Figure You Out."

The folk is present but simply without acoustics, and there's a ballad, "As Long As It Matters," which practically travels at double the speed you would expect it to flow.

With such a "squaring," with a song form of this kind, almost "stonerfolk," it's difficult to place the Gin Blossoms within the cage of '90s root-rock bands, and even more so within the immense enclosure of jingle-jangle bands in the Byrds style, their starting point along with punk in their self-produced debut "Dusted."

Moreover, they definitively distance themselves from what was (and perhaps still is) the musical reference point for bands of this standard, namely the Stipe-Bucks duo: the Gin Blossoms, especially when it comes to frontal assaults on the charts, assert their own stylistic signature in "Congratulations... I'm Sorry."

It's certain that with such a style, and with a vocalist whose interpretation is all about "good intentions," no one would ever believe they're in the presence of a band of drunks (the singer himself, in addition to the aforementioned Hopkins affair, had very serious issues in that regard), battered, nihilistic, self-destructive. Meanwhile, these wayward souls, as a motivational trainer would say "these individuals incapable of managing their emotions and without any self-control," for once decided together to try again, to take back their dreams, to commit goodwill and self-discipline, and the result was excellent.

To be clear: they soon returned to their former selves, and for another ten years, the Gin Blossoms ceased to exist. For this reason, in hindsight, it seems fitting to say not only "Congratulations" but also "I'm Sorry": perhaps one can battle and defeat their nature, battle by battle, episode by episode, but changing is truly difficult. Who knows what a trainer would think, one of those who, if they want, can even have you walk on burning coals...