Like many other alternative rock bands that formed in the late ’90s, Taking Back Sunday has struggled to define itself in a world where the pre-teen audience it used to cater to has grown up and the current batch of pre-teens has discovered fresh new musical idols.
Taking Back Sunday’s new self-titled album is, unfortunately, a flawed and ultimately failed attempt to develop a sharp musical edge that the band simply does not have.
The point at which this confusion and quasi-desperation is most obvious is in “El Paso,” the opening track of the album. The song is a scream-fest that lacks much of a melody or a coherent set of lyrics.
Just as the listener is taken aback and confused, the songs proceed almost as if the band itself wishes it could un-record “El Paso,” resulting in a set of blatantly formulaic alternative rock songs.
“Since You’re Gone,” for instance, could not be distinguished from most of the countless, angst-ridden breakup songs that have been produced over the course of the last decade.
The lyrics on this album can also be downright laughable at times. In “Money (Let It Go),” the frontman sings about a woman who is apparently dating a man purely for his money. As a form of warning, he sings, “Get gone / Keep on keeping away.” Assuming this album took months to put together, it is baffling that a line such as that one did not prompt a red flag to go up in one of the musicians’ minds as being, quite frankly, awful.
What is even more frustrating is that this album has some potentially bright moments that are snuffed out because the band wants to return to what it knows.
“Best Places To Be A Mom” explores the idea of questioning if a young man is no more than the sum of his father’s sins. This could be an interesting and possibly powerful topic to explore in a song. Unfortunately, the lyrics do not delve into the emotions of this song nearly as much as they could, merely scratching the surface before retreating back into a repetitive, chorus-oriented approach.
Unlike “Best Places To Be A Mom,” which fails to cash in on lyrical potential, “This Is All Now” fails to cash in on musical potential. The song takes the form of an angry and frustrated plea for someone to tell the truth. Near the end of the song, the music quiets down significantly to the point where there is only sparse instrumentation and semi-spoken vocals.
In light of the content of the song, this soft section could be a powerful way to end the track. Regrettably, the band could not resist the lures of another bombastic chorus, undermining any emotional rawness that could have really set the song apart in a positive way from the rest of the songs on the album.
That is not to say that this album is entirely without any redeeming value. Many of the songs on the CD, despite the fact that they are admittedly formulaic, are catchy. Other songs truly cut right to the heart of compelling lyrical subjects.
“Who Are You Anyway?” sounds like a questioning of God himself. The frontman sings about whether or not the sacrifices he made to reach Heaven will be worth it when he dies. Hopefully, this is in fact the subject of the song instead of just another angst-ridden track about pent-up frustration at some other person.
Though some listeners may enjoy this album and all the ’90s-esque hooks it provides, Taking Back Sunday’s new self-titled album is disappointing evidence that the band has exhibited minimal musical growth, if any, over the course of the decade or so it has been making music.
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