Album review: Switchfoot’s new album stands firm in sound

Thy Thy Nguyen
Wed, 15 Jan 2014 03:56:03 +0000
Campus, album review, fading west, music, switchfoot

Switchfoot never ceases to amaze me. As a kid who was just about to enter her tweens and on the verge of discovering other music besides albums by the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears that every ‘90s and 2000s kid enjoyed, I remember hearing the band’s songs “I Dare You To Move” and “Learning To Breathe.” After hearing the lyrics and melodies to those songs, I knew I was going to be hooked.

Listening to Switchfoot’s newest album, “Fading West,” which dropped Tuesday, made me remember one reason I will always be an alternative rock fan.

I absolutely love the first song on the album “Love Alone Is Worth the Fight.” Switchfoot focuses on the aspects of self-identification and not being afraid to fight for love.

The band also focuses on the ideals of living in the present and taking chances on fighting for true love in the song, despite all of the fears one might have inside. These ideas can be seen when the band sings, “So I’m headed down the open road unknown” and, “We’re only here for a season.” The song is just a little reminder to me that we only live once, and so it’s up to us to take chances for love, even when everything can seem as scary as hell.

“Who We Are” is another fun song that starts out with a short, sweet chorus of counting to five just to get the ball rolling. “Who We Are” reminds me about all of the dreams children have when they are young. The song also has a deeper level of meaning, when the band gets to the part where it sings, “Who we are (in the fever of our youth) / Who we are, (we’ve got nothing left to lose).” The song symbolizes the importance of taking chances in life while you’re young. Whether the opportunity turns out to be a chance to fall in love, a chance to travel around the world or, in Switchfoot’s case, a chance to play music as a band. It reinforces the theme that you should always take the risk because the opportunity might never come again.

“When We Come Alive” reminds me of the feeling that you can pretty much do anything if you’re with the right person, hence the words, “Burning brightly / You and I.”

“All Or Nothing At All” is another great song that completely reminds me of heartbreak.

“Ba55” isn’t a bad song, either. It has a lot of heart and melodic rhythm in its lyrics and a lot of guitar parts to it with low rhythmic beats. The main choruses in the song are “I believe you’re the fire that could burn me clean” and “Let my soul fly.” Because of the lyrics, it sounds sort of like hippie music from the ‘70s to me, but overall, it’s a good song. The sounds of the instruments fit well with the lyrics, and it’s a song I wouldn’t mind playing in my car stereo.

Overall, I love Switchfoot and the work the band did with this recent album.

Grade: A-