Switchfoot
Switchfoot’s last studio album was recorded in 2006 and was followed by last year’s excellent compilation, The Best Yet. If this wasn’t ominous enough for fans of the band, Jon Foreman, the band’s front-man and principal songwriter, also released a series of four introspective solo EPs (coordinating with the four seasons) and joined up with Nickel Creek’s Sean Watkins, releasing a rock/pop project under the name Fiction Family.
Happily, all of those signs of a band disbanding were false – Switchfoot is still alive and well and, on their rousing new album, Hello Hurricane, sounding more energized than ever.
In many ways Hello Hurricane is a new beginning for the California quintet, as Jon Foreman (vocals/guitar), Tim Foreman (bass), Chad Butler (drums), Jerome Fontamillas (keys/guitar) and Drew Shirley (guitar) say ‘hello’ not just to the metaphorical hurricane of the album’s title, but to a new label, their own new studio, and a new producer – Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Rilo Kiley, Eminem and Pink). The result is Switchfoot’s most mature, self-assured sounding project to date – full of sound and fury, Hello Hurricane is a two-pronged rock revelation that is both hopeful about and aggrieved of our human condition.
On the big rock/blues workout, “Free,” Foreman sings, “Come set me free /Down on my knees /I still believe you can save me from me /Come set me free /Come set me free,” with the last phrase recorded dry and up-front: “Inside this shell / There’s a prison cell.” In contrast to the prison cell of “Free,” the album’s title track defiantly addresses the hurricane of life: “Hello hurricane – you’re not enough / Hello hurricane – you can’t silence my love / I’ve got doors and windows boarded up / All your dead end fury is not enough / You can’t silence my love…”
Foreman’s found the secret of using the strengths and limitations of his vocals to describe the fragility and rage that lie somewhere under the surface of us all, and – right from the speaker-to-speaker guitar-buzz opening of “Needle and Haystack Life,”- we know we’re in for a solidly performed 49 minutes of intelligently written, impeccably performed modern rock. Between hints of Mute Math influence in the pace and drumming of the opening track and the outro of the final track, is the sound of a group that’s taken total command of its own sound, playing with confidence and a fine balance between the cerebral and the visceral sides of rock music.
The powerful, driving rock single, “Mess of Me,” a testament to our inability to run our own lives, matches an angry vocal with a powerful distortion-heavy riff and a great, hooky chorus. Although there’s plenty of heavy sounds on Hello Hurricane, there are anthem-like moments like those in “Your Love is a Song,” the semi-pop sound of “Enough” (which might remind some of Jars of Clay’s recent work), the slow, quiet intensity of “Yet,” and “Always,” which has slight melodic ties to Audio Adrenaline’s “Ocean Floor,” and themes from Switchfoot’s own “This is Your Life.”
Elizondo’s production is superb, bringing out the edginess of the guitars, thunder of the drums, and power of the bass, sometimes crunching robustly, as on the POD-like chorus of “This is the Sound,” and other times allowing for sparse, dark moments, like on the inspirational and powerful “Sing it Out,” which incorporates a small string section before all is said and done. This is a great sounding album, to put it succinctly, and Elizondo proves to be an excellent match for Switchfoot.
Foreman and Switchfoot have reached the place where they really know how to construct an album. This isn’t simply the best twelve songs they were able to come up with, but the best twelve out of 80 or so that they were developing for the project! The song sequence is just right – balancing textures and themes in exactly the order they should be. Lyrically, the album is very much about the familiar themes of romance, self-examination, hope, and reliance on God. Musically, this album is about a band that’s learned not only the art of the hook but the emotional breadth and power of rock and roll.
Bert Saraco is a native New Yorker married to his high school sweetheart, has three children, runs his own professional photography business, and writes occasional music, book and film reviews.
Monday Nov 9th, 2009 • View all posts by Bert Saraco • View all posts in Album Reviews
↓ 19 comments
Newworldson
Newworldson 
The Mountain Goats
Life of the World to Come 
Vampire Weekend
Contra 
Fireflight
For Those Who Wait 
Andrew Greer
Open Book 
Starfield
The Saving One 
Plumb
Beautiful History 
Ajalon
This Good Place 
Tom Hemby
In The Moment 
Vlada
All About You 
This album is not doing it for me, I’ll be honest.
The first half is fair, but the second half has no pop charm, the lyrics are droll, and the hooks are weak.
Songs like “Free” utilize redemption cliches too often, and “Mess of Me” (while supposedly about our dependence on the pharmaceutical industry) just sounds like a generic anti-addiction rock track a la Skillet or Evanescence, albeit with a punk shuffle.
“This is the Sound” is nice rhythmically, but the hook just doesn’t work for me. Half-sung, half-screamed. Eh…
It’s not horrible, by any means. But it is a reminder that Switchfoot have gone so far mainstream those quirky little moments from their past are probably never going to be recaptured.
I see “Mess of Me” more as a statement about our need for God as the center and our own tendencies to screw things up on our own. It doesn’t have to be as narrow as a drug dependency thing. I’d say, give the whole album a few more listens – I found that it grew on me quite a bit (obviously). As always, thanks for commenting!
Thankfully, this album isn’t mediocre like the previous two albums.
I listened to this album probably 7 or 8 times before reviewing it for another site, and to me it just never moved beyond being an average album. Within this genre and even within their own album catalog, this album is just incredibly middling and doesn’t make much of a mark in any way. There are a few decent moments, but nothing truly memorable, although you are definitely right, Bert, about “Needle and Haystack Life” being a quality track.
I’ve heard this album 12-14 times since I got it about four months ago. It’s just not very good. The lyrics are weak, the music never sounds like a revolution (even when compared to other average rock pieces), so I’d have to say “Ehhh…” overall.
Well, John, “It’s just not very good” is a pretty strong statement for something as subjective as music. Obviously, you didn’t care for this album, which means that it didn’t work for you.
I think it’s a very good collection of songs.
Of course ‘I think’ were the first two words of that last sentence.
Not everyone would agree with that, either….
Bert:
I think you probably think these reviews out more thoroughly than any of us. But there I go thinking again, and that can be problematic at times.
Agree to disagree?
That’s exactly what I think we’re doing – makes the world go round. There are plenty of things we’d agree on though – for instance, I’m thinking that neither one of us is looking forward to that Sandi Patty / Carman four-disc retrospective collection….
I had no clue there was going to be a Carmen retrospective. Oh no. No no no no no.
I don’t think it is in the league of Beautiful Letdown but it has it’s moments. It’s hard to believe that they had 80 or so songs to choose from and to me musically it sounds very similiar to all of their other music. I wish they would have taken some musical chances, like Derek Webb did with Stockholm Syndrome.
That news is disturbing enough to make me want to start a R.I.O.T.
To me – this is their strongest release since Learning to Breathe.
In my opinion its a lot like they’re other albums overall. Every Switchfoot album to me has had some great songs that really work, mixed in with “Ehhh” songs. Beautiful Letdown with all its fantastic hits had songs like “Adding To The Noise” and “More Than Fine”. Nothing is Sound with great ones like “Stars” and “The Blues” had filler like “Golden” and “Easier Than Love”. And Oh Gravity with quality fresh songs like “Dirty Second Hands” and “Amateur Lovers” had generic drab ones like “Burn Out Bright” and “Head Over Heels.”
So I’m not suprised that with this one, with the new edginess that the band is proudly putting out there with songs like “Mess Of Me” and “The Sound” that they put their typical sugary pop love songs in the mix like with “Enough To Let Me Go” and “Yet.”
Don’t get me wrong, I love Switchfoot, and all the songs I’ve pointed out from previous albums I have jammed more than a dozen times. But they’re still not GREAT songs, they’re just okay.
Beautiful Letdown included, they’ve never really to me made an overall perfect album. It’s not easy to do, and its really easy to put a lot of filler in there. But Switchfoot’s filler is a lot better than a lot of bands can do.
… and by the way they will be releasing three, yes THREE more albums over the next year and a half, starting in the spring with Vice Versus. They’re gonna need to have some more fresh ideas for sure.
@Brian hehehhee
i liked this album, didn’t love it and for me, nothing will ever beat their first four albums.
Switchfoot albums always have had to grow on me (with the exception of The Beautiful Letdown, which is how I was introduced to them just before they “went mainstream.”) At first, I like a few songs and am not impressed with the rest… but the more I listen, the more I appreciate them. So far, Hello Hurricane is following that pattern. I also tend to like certain songs better after seeing Switchfoot perform them live, so we’ll see if that continues the next time I get to a show!
Glad you appreciate the joke, Grace.
I figured somebody on this site would!
Nothing is Sound is still the cream of their albums crop in my opinion…HH is no NiS for sure, but there are worse things. I just feel they could have done significantly more with this record, especially with no label pressure this time around.
I’m with B on this one. Nothing is Sound is just such a great album.
If NIS is the cream of the crop, then we’re in a heap of trouble.
How so, Aaron?
Does it Resonate with you?