Here\u2019s the thing about writing music reviews: after a while, it becomes difficult not to start writing the review in your head as you\u2019re listening to an album. As you take in new music for the first time, you\u2019re already looking for the themes that leap out of the speakers, the risks the artist is taking (or refusing to take), and the narrative your review will pursue. Forming your impression and articulating it start to happen almost simultaneously.<\/p>\n
The problem with mentally writing your review as you go, of course, is that you don\u2019t really know what you\u2019re listening to until you\u2019ve heard the album all the way through. Review as you go and sometimes you\u2019ll wind up with three, four, maybe even ten different reviews in one, a schizophrenic series of hot takes instead of one unified idea.<\/p>\n
But reviewing as you go can also tell an album\u2019s story, or more accurately, your story of what listening to the album is like from the first note to the last. And following that progression can sometimes be all the narrative a review needs. So here\u2019s the story of my experience with Native Tongue<\/i>, the eleventh studio offering from DV favorite Switchfoot.<\/p>\n
Review #1: Tracks 1-4<\/u><\/p>\n
Oh man, Switchfoot is back<\/i>! After two straight misfires in Fading West<\/i> and Where the Light Shines Through<\/i>, albums marred by a heavy hand in the production booth and few standout songs, it looks like Jon Foreman and Company have regrouped and shown up with something to say. \u201cLet It Happen\u201d makes clear from the outset that Switchfoot\u2019s main message since \u201cDare You To Move\u201d made them stars in the early 2000s \u2013 that there\u2019s more to life than the soulless materialism of the American Dream \u2013 will carry on here, accompanied by the comfort food of soaring guitars and Foreman\u2019s voice. And \u201cNative Tongue\u201d argues, with a funky tribal motif, that the message is needed now more than ever. When the catchy chorus comes to a close one last time, you think the song is over, only for Foreman to quietly and powerfully throw down the gauntlet: \u201cI want the world to sing in her native tongue \/ Maybe we could learn to sing along \/ To find a way to use our lungs for love and not the shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I Need\u201d is a vintage Switchfoot anthem, maybe not as stirring as classics like \u201cWe Are One Tonight\u201d or \u201cYour Love Is a Song,\u201d but certainly in the same vein musically. And \u201cVoices,\u201d while the weakest of the first four tracks, takes the most risks musically, relying heavily on the production booth to tell the song\u2019s story about all the different influences we contend with every day. Normally too much work at the board hurts Switchfoot\u2019s sound, but here it fits the song\u2019s theme and works overall.<\/p>\n
Looks like we\u2019ve got a return to form for the boys from San Diego!<\/p>\n
Review #2: Tracks 5-8<\/u><\/p>\n
Hmm. Well. Maybe I got ahead of myself.<\/p>\n
It seems now we\u2019re getting to the hit or miss section of the album. \u201cProdigal Soul\u201d is a definite hit, the kind of spiritual-but-not-in-your-face-about-it tune that has kept Switchfoot in the good graces of both the rock and CCM worlds for two decades. Foreman\u2019s vocals shine here in a song that would fit on any of the band\u2019s best albums. \u201cJoy Invincible\u201d has the right ingredients for similar success, but the overproduction that threatened to ruin the band\u2019s last two albums has that effect on this song. There\u2019s a potential gem in there, but it\u2019s been so aggressively polished that it\u2019s hard to see the substance behind the shine.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, \u201cDig New Streams\u201d and \u201cThe Hardest Art\u201d are both filler tracks: not bad, but too dull for me to even know what to say about them. In fact, after listening to the album all the way through half a dozen times, I\u2019m having trouble even remembering what they sound like well enough to write this paragraph. Switchfoot\u2019s strength is their ability to inspire, and these songs leave you flat.<\/p>\n
So maybe I spoke too soon. This album may be more of a mixed bag than it seemed at first.<\/p>\n
Review #3: Tracks 9-14<\/u><\/p>\n
Oof. We\u2019re done, right?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m trying to come up with something interesting to say about the second half of Native Tongue<\/i>, but it\u2019s tough to be insightful about mediocre love songs, which is almost exclusively what you find here.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake My Fire\u201d is a bright spot, the kind of banger some sports team might play over a highlight video. It also has the benefit of originality, sounding unlike anything else on the album with rat-a-tat verses that border on rapping followed by a crunchy guitar chorus. And \u201cStrength To Let Go,\u201d while not transcendent by any means, is another above-average anthem, albeit one marred (again) by overproduction.<\/p>\n
The less said about the remaining tracks the better. This review is already long enough. If you\u2019re looking for the musical equivalent of a master chef handing you cotton candy, that\u2019s mostly what you\u2019re getting from the second half of Native Tongue<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Final Thoughts<\/u><\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my fear: this album bears a striking resemblance to Switchfoot\u2019s career arc.<\/p>\n
It starts off having something bold and profound to say, and says it with style and conviction, immediately getting your attention. Jon Foreman\u2019s lyrics and made-for-alternative-music voice pair brilliantly with the surfer rock stylings of his bandmates, and you\u2019re sure this thing is going places.<\/p>\n
But somewhere in the middle, complacency seems to set in, and risks give way to a tried-and-true formula that leaves the listener wanting more (and not in the good way.) There are still bright spots, but the they\u2019re not enough to lift what surrounds them.<\/p>\n
And as the end draws near, you realize you\u2019re looking forward to the silence more than the next song. There\u2019s something tragic about watching a pitcher lose his fastball, when your enjoyment is tied more to loyalty and nostalgia than to the joy of watching a master at work. You\u2019ll always have those first few tracks, the hopefulness of the new. But maybe it\u2019s time to call it a day.<\/p>\n
Native Tongue<\/i> deserves a listen. But like its creators, its best moments come early and it overstays its welcome. And if you\u2019re like me, you\u2019ll walk away with a sad conclusion that\u2019s been a nagging fear for years now: maybe we don\u2019t need another Switchfoot album after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":33707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7886],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-45528","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-switchfoot","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45528"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}