Switchfoot
Nothing Is Sound

THE REVIEW

Putting aside the doubts and insecurities of the first review (which also led me to make excessive criticisms), I would have liked to continue writing about pop-punk and then move on to other popular genres on DeBaser like Nu-Metal, which many here literally despise. However, I noticed that on DeBaser there was still no review of the Pop-Rock band from San Diego, Switchfoot, so, to avoid writing the 73rd review on Green Day or Sum 41, I decided to write about their 5th studio album "Nothing Is Sound".

Unfortunately, I am not able to provide you with much information about Switchfoot, so I simply limit myself to the description of the album, occasionally adding information I found on the web (Wikipedia).

After the double platinum album that was "The Beautiful Letdown" released in 2003, Switchfoot returns to the scene with "Nothing Is Sound" (2005), announcing that the guitarist Drew Shirley had officially joined the band after touring with them the previous year. Thanks to this new member, the band changes its style adopting a more rock and darker sound. 

The album opens with one of the best songs, which is "Lonely Nation" where the lyrics are clearly a critique of their own country and a call to react and not remain silent ("I Want More Than My Lonely Nation"). The following tracks, "Stars" and "Happy Is A Yuppy Word", are not bad, the first very fast and rock and the second with more pop nuances. But here comes the first "obstacle", "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine", where good lyrics contrast with a very pop song that also seems very "stretched", and for this reason, it turns out a bit boring. Fortunately, after these 5 minutes comes "Easier Than Love", much more rhythmic, with an easily catchy pop-rock chorus that deals with the commercialization of sex. Following is "The Blues" and it shares more or less the same issue as "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine", (although I find it more pleasant), so excessively "stretched" and a bit boring for the listener.  However, it too appears just as an episode after hearing the next three songs "The Setting Sun", "Politicians", and "Golden", where the second, "The Politicians" is in my opinion the most beautiful and the most "hard rock" of the album: a critique, as it is easy to guess from the title, of politicians and their own state. Then comes "The Fatal Wound", from what I understand the lyrics should be quite serious, but the song as a whole did not impress me much. The penultimate song "We Are One Tonight" I believe is the best along with "Lonely Nation" and "The Politician" even if this time the lyrics are not very committed. As a closing, the semi-acoustic ballad "Daisy" which with a four-minute crescendo "explodes" in the last seconds with distorted guitars and drums.

In short, a Pop-Rock album to listen to without too many expectations, where very serious and committed lyrics, are often "contrasted" with excessively Pop melodies (with some exceptions). I still got a positive impression overall and I hope to see more reviews on Switchfoot, perhaps getting to know new things about their history and their albums. Sorry if I was too long or boring, but I thought it was necessary to spend a few words on this quintet since there was not even a review on DeBaser yet.

P.S. to avoid some misunderstanding my words, when I say that the songs on this album that last 5 minutes are boring, I don't mean that I only like songs "three-and-a-half-minutes-long" with predictable and repetitive structures, but simply that in this particular album they appear tiring; for example, I prefer the 10-minute version of "Sultans Of Swing" by Dire Straits (the Live Alchemy) compared to the album version, so, it is all relative.