Being in high school when The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most came out, I played the role of the lovesick teenager who, although my heart was always in right place, constantly seemed to be alone. I, however, was just one of thousands of other kids playing the role which - most likely - would have been (so) impossible to do accordingly without the work of Mr. Carrabba. Those songs were not only painstakingly sad but they still had just the right hints of pop sensibility to get stuck in our heads. And so binders and notebooks across the States were defaced with Dashboard Confessional lyrics. I personally remember scribbling some lines from "Ender Will Save Us All" on a friend's notebook when my first love broke up with me during my senior year.
Then a sacrilege was committed; Carrabba decided to desecrate his older works, songs that were now considered to be part of the holy scripture of all things "emo", by adding electric guitars. And so the playa hatin' began. While many cried "sellout" to this, others understood that the progression was natural and possibly his way of letting the fans know the direction he would be going in. All of us were already heartbroken enough never finding true love; a sudden change in style would have devastated our little adolescent lives - we all know we are at the absolute height of our fragility at that age.
But there was something a lot of the O.G. fans missed with A Mission, a Mark, a Brand, a Scar; the songs were actually good. Really fucking good in fact. While they didn't have the intensely personal one-on-one feel that he created with all his other records, these were still great songs; just as endearing and heartfelt. You could still sing these to your loved one when you wanted to confess your inner self but felt you lacked the proper vernacular to do so. You could still hum the vocal melodies while going to class, and most importantly; the lyrics were still poignant enough to be quoted in yearbooks nationwide. But then something happened.
I'd like to blame that dude from Counting Crows who has dreadlocks but somehow is still bald (he has guest vocals on this album), because his band always sucked even though Carrabba has named them as an influence. Perhaps I could blame U2 because they thought it would be a good idea to let Dashboard open a few shows for them, perhaps inspiring the band to take that direction with their latest effort. It's damn near fact that Bono is a pompous prick. But when I think about it, I know responsibility lies solely in the hands of the brainchild, Chris Carrabba.
From what I gather, the attempt of Dusk and Summer was to make songs that would be as powerful as "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls, which - and I'll fight anyone who disagrees - is the epitome of melancholic pop songs. These are the type of songs you would sing at the top of your lungs when either a) leaving your lover for a prolonged period of time or b) reuniting with your lover for the first time in a prolonged period. To a certain degree the formula works, but it's the lack of variance that's holds Dusk and Summerback from being considered great.
The lyrics work but simply don't resonate with you like they did on previous albums; one cannot claim them as their own. Also the vocal patterns on this are almost entirely the same through every song. I imagine him belting these out from a rooftop (like in the "Iris" video) or along the beachside at dusk (in the summer of course) while waves crash on the beach perfectly in sync with the guitar build-ups. I think it's clear that I'm getting fairly ridiculous here, but that's exactly what the album is, ridiculously emotive songs - almost to the point of satire - written for the most stereotypical archetype of a college student.
Assuming this was his intention I and several others will be pulling out our copies of The Swiss Army Romance, like the fans we used to be, to sulk, now brokenhearted that he's left us for the popular kids at school.
Author's note: Upon completing this review someone brought to my attention a video for the single on this album. You guessed it; he is singing out his window over an empty city skyline before cutting to an empty field where only he and a single humming bird exist. This shit is getting too easy to predict. I bet college girls eat this up.
