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Fake Problems - It's Great to be Alive

Rating

RIYL

Against Me!
The Gaslight Anthem
Hot Water Music

Release Date

02/17/2009

Label

SideOneDummy

Tracklist

1. 1234
2. The Dream Team
3. You're a Serpent, You're a She-Snake
4. Don't Worry Baby
5. The Heaven & Hell Cotillion
6. Level with the Devil
7. Diamond Rings
8. Tabernacle Song
9. Alligator Assassinator
10. There are Times
11. Too Cold Too Hold
12. Heart BPM

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Recent Ratings
benny06	AndyCaustic
Max	homemadebullshit

SideOneDummy is on a roll. Last year saw them pick up The Gaslight Anthem and coax out of them what would go on to be their strongest effort (and topped at least one Decoy staffer’s top ten list), and they’ve done it again with Fake Problems’ latest and most mature offering yet.

It’s Great to be Alive will come as a breath of fresh air to the band’s fans. Their debut and sophomore albums both showed strong progression from one to the next, and they continue to develop their established sound on their third outing. What sets It’s Great to be Alive apart from their prior work is its consistency. Start to finish, there’s not a weak track to be found, from the feel-good, true-love-found opener “1234” to the shout-it-out-at-the-top-of-your-lungs anthem of the chorus in “Heart BPM,” these Florida boys seem to have found their muse in the cornfields of Nebraska.

Whether singer Chris Farren is musing on his difficulties with organized religion, romantically disorganized women, or even proving his dominance over the reptile kingdom, he continuously proves that he’s one of the best songwriters out there with a sharp and subtle wit and a silver tongue that’s more eloquent than his harsh, hoarse vocals let on. His narratives have lost that coming of age innocence and have become much more self-aware, and his delivery carries a confidence that comes with the comfort of age.

Much has been said thus far about the lyrics and vocals, but the instrumentation throughout couldn’t be better. The album has pretty much every non-digitized instrument you can think of, all arranged smartly enough that, even when there’s horns, keys, strings, and bells thrown all at once into the mix, it never overwhelms. A. J. Mogis is the man to thank for this, and his previous work with bands like Cursive should be enough to explain why it turned out so well.

Despite the album’s title and the bravado that it’s all presented with, this is an album entrenched in all five basic types of conflict necessary for all good writing. From person versus self right up to person versus supernatural, this isn’t an album borne out of harmony and Zen, and maybe that’s the point. Maybe all of the conflict we deal with in our lives, and the myriad of ways we can handle them, are exactly why it’s great to be alive.

--Greg Burchell