Artist: Blue October
Title: Sway
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 30th August 2013
Label: Membran / Sony Music
Album Review
‘Sway’ is something of a mixed-bag. Which could be a good thing. Rock, as a genre, has probably been explored, mined, recycled and regurgitated more times than is healthy, and to stick to any one branch of it seriously limits the fan-base. Diversify is the battle-cry. In cooking, this was given the ghastly moniker “fusion”, in music “crossover appeal” seems more appropriate. And Texan four-piece BLUE OCTOBER certainly see themselves as fitting this description. Alt-rock, indie-rock and modern-rock are all used to describe them, and the patronage of Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight books, has probably gifted them a few Goths as well.
And so it begins, this mixed bag, with the charming, wispy ‘Breathe, It’s Over’. As light as a Summery breeze, it eases into the odd-shaped pop of the title track, gently bouncing along with quirky keyboard flourishes. ‘Angels in Everything’ follows, and would perfectly soundtrack any number of feel-good American teen movies, without being too sickly or too chest-thumping grand. It does the job it was given, one suspects. There’s nothing wrong with ‘Bleed Out’ either, and it’s the first proper rock song here. There’s a bit too much mid-eighties PETER GABRIEL and GENESIS at times though, as on the almost-epic ‘Debris’, which is rescued by some subtle violin and decent atmospherics, and ‘Fear’ drifts by happily enough.
It goes horrible wrong when they decide to really rock-out. The clunky thud of ‘Hard Candy’, which sounds like it was recorded in a rusty old bath, stays in your head long after it’s gasped to a close, but not for the right reasons. ‘Put It In’ isn’t much better, despite some nifty guitar at times. And an equally dreadful head-fuck is the chorus to ‘Things We Do At Night’, something that is simply best avoided. And then, whoosh! Out with that, and we have the lush, soaring ballad ‘Not Broken Anymore’. A truly beautiful song, there’s echoes of PETER GABRIEL again, even a bit of PETER CETERA, and if you’re going to write a ballad, it has to have that timeless quality. And this has it in all the candle-lit, hair-blowing pomp of any of the past three decades.
The album ends with ‘To Be’, which graciously sweeps away from the ballad before it in a gentle flourish of stately strings, samples and piano, easing itself effortlessly into the sunset. Ending as it began, almost, misleading because there’s not enough of this to give consistency, and the crossover appeal one suggests they are striving for is too vague in its targeting. Best summed up by the excruciatingly bad ‘Light You Up’, its scratchy R & B beat, almost rapped verse, and shouty chorus of “Fuck You” is like the worst aspects of three different genres chucked in a bag to see what comes out. And that’s the mixed-bag, then. Most of the time, not good enough.
Tracklist
01. Breathe, It’s Over
02. Sway
03. Angels In Everything
04. Bleed Out
05. Debris
06. Fear
07. Things We Don’t Know About
08. Hard Candy
09. Put It In
10. Light You Up
11. Things We Do At Night
12. Not Broken Anymore
13. To Be
Line-up
Justin Furstenfeld – Vocals and Guitars
Ryan Delahoussaye – Violin
Matt Noveskey – Bass
Jeremy Furstenfeld – Drums
Website
http://blueoctober.com / https://www.facebook.com/blueoctober
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 6
Sound: 6
Total: 6 / 10
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