|
BLUE OCTOBER Foiled (Universal) |
 AH, Blue October, you fickle beast. Why do you torment me so? Why do your songs open well and meander into apathy? Why do your lyrics stick out like sore thumbs inserted into each of my eyelids? Try this on for size. On Hate Me, one of the album’s better tracks, Justin Furstfeld sings “I have to block out thoughts of you so I don’t lose my head / they’re crawling like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed”. Which is fair enough, until he ends the next line with how the movies in his head “make a porno feel like home”. That buildup and letdown is a recurring theme throughout Foiled. It’s as if the album’s troubled gestation made Blue October throw kitchen sink, bathtub and aluminium siding into each song, and the record suffers from that marked lack of restraint. Worth mention is the excellent Congratulations, where Imogen Heap’s ethereal vocals represent a contribution so good it practically earned this album its second star. Along with 18th Floor Balcony and Hate Me, it’s one of the rare moments when everything falls into place, when less really is more, and it makes the other overwrought, inconsistent songs suffer in comparison. |
|
|
