Straylight Run - Straylight Run
Rating
RIYL
Ben Folds FiveMelee
The Get Up Kids
TBS
Breaking Pangea
Label
Victory RecordsTracklist
1. The Perfrect Ending2.The Tension And The Terror
3. Existentialism On Prom Night
4. Another Word For Desparate
5. Mistakes We Knew We Were Making
6. Dignity And Money
7. Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway)
8. Tool Sheds And Hot Tubs
9. It's For The Best
10. Now It's Done
11. Sympathy For The Martyr
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When I started writing this, I wasn't originally going to give the backgroung information on how Straylight Run came about. Everyone knows that John and Shaun left Taking Back Sunday in early 2003. They added Michelle, John's sister and Will Thomas Noon formerly of Breaking Pangea to form what is now Straylight Run. Taking Back Sunday added a couple new members and began the process of recording their sophomore album. There were serious questions about what the new TBS would be like without John, one of the principle song writers. Personally, I was skeptical, but when I heard Where You Want To Be I lost all doubt in the songwriting of Adam Lazzara. He was going to be okay without his partner.
I first heard Straylight Run's demos last fall and was blown away. It was such a departure from everything that was TBS. The demos were great because they weren't over produced, they let the songs, and John's voice speak for themselves. Everyone was buzzing about the songs and the band set out on a sold out nationwide tour. Things were going great. 2004 rolled around and the band found themselves touring in the UK! Pretty good for a band who hadn't even released anything tangible. As the year progressed people were starting to get excited for their full length. The buzz started and by late summer I got a couple three song samplers from Victory. Still the buzz grew. None of us at Decoy had gotten the full length from the label and we couldn't figure out why. This is one of the most anticipated albums of the year and there was no real press for it.Then something horrible happened. The full cd leaked to the internet and it dawned on me why Victory was keeping such tight lips on it...Straylight Run's self titled debut isn't very good.
Enough history, lets get into the meat of Straylight Run. The first thing that you will notice about this disc is the production. While the band's demos were raw and simple, allowing John's delicate voice to just...be, the full length is super produced. All the songs sound hallow. Its almost as though the people behind the boards mistook Straylight Run for Britney Spears. Big, perfect production is fine when the artist has no talent, but the band has proven that they do. The next thing that stands out is, well, the songs. Only four songs from the original demos made the cut, and while most times its good to have fresh material on a full length, the new stuff is not up to par, not by a long shot. "The Tension and the Terror," "Exestentialism on Prom Night," "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making" and "It's For The Best," the original songs, are perfect examples of piano based pop rock. Ben Folds couldn't do it any better. But with one exception, the new stuff is sad, boring and musically second rate. The disc's first track, "The Perfect Ending" is five minutes of sparce arraingements and even less melody. The other new songs are more of the same. There are a couple songs with Michelle singing, and while she has a beautiful voice, it just can't carry the sub par songs.The only new song that can stand on even ground is "Dignity and Money."
When it comes down to it, I'm not sure who to blame for this subpar album. I guess the brunt of it must go to the band for not living up to the promise of their first demos, but Victory is also to blame. The label is trying positioning itself as the predominant indie with the successful releases of Atreyu and TBS and they should have made sure that Straylight Run has the same success, but they dropped the ball. The promotion for the album was lacking, even sloppy (there is a typo on an ad in last month's AP) at times. They also should have had the guts to tell the band to come up with more songs on the same level as their early stuff. This could have been one of the best releases of the year, but sadly its not. The old songs are brilliant, some of the best of the year (last year), but the new ones are snooze fests, and it makes me wonder...Maybe John was better off WITH Adam.?
JohnnyL
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