There’s little anybody can say about Dashboard Confessional that hasn’t already been said. The story is well known, about how Chris Carrabba’s side project in the dying days of his participation with Further Seems Forever spread the waves of underground culture to suddenly emerge as a household name. The band rode on a crest of a wave, “emo” culture was possibly developed and fine tuned whilst listening to DC on stereos.

Unfortunately, the narrow minded in the music community (i.e. scenesters) are too quick to write off Dashboard nowadays as a ponsey “emo” band; despite the necessities for the survival of this image having drastically changed. The new direction of music is the first necessity, it’s clear instantly that Dashboard have a more refined, grown-up sound. But, possibly just as importantly, the “emo” culture which Dashboard were synonymous with starting three or four years ago has spawned off thousands of bands who scream because it’s cool and not because they’re really emotional, emotion became cool, and Dashboard became everybody’s favourite scapegoat for the abuse. Apparently it’s so much more macho to listen to a band whose singer clearly paid close to three figures for his haircut and around as much on that outfit, macho indeed!

Change was a necessity otherwise Dashboard would wash up along the pristine, scenic shoreline which adorns the cover of their new album ‘Dusk and Summer’, behind front man Chris Carrabba, who, of course is still condemned as the emo poster boy. It’s sometimes easy to forget that Dashboard is a band, completed by Scott Shoenbeck (bass), John Lefler (guitar), Mike Marsh (drums) and new addition Susan Sherouse (violin). It’s immediately clear that there is a much deeper sound and listening experience on offer, opening track ‘Don’t Wait’ (also the first single from the album) kicks in with an addictive series of “whoa-oh”, add a few simple harmonies and the good vibes are already rolling. This is textbook Dashboard, sure, the sound differs slightly, but the lyrics and emotion are still right where you’d expect them to be, and just after a minute of the CD is gone their already hitting the first luscious, melodic chorus. It is one of the choruses which will stick in your head and have you attempted to replicate Carrabba’s notes all day; with little success in my case. Violinist Sherouse is introduced here, with some very subtle pieces totally maximising the uplifting nature of the song.

‘Reason To Believe’ kicks in sounding like a post-punk song with a twist; this is a band with a different sound for sure. Carrabba’s voice soars through the palm muting and chiming guitar anthem on the wonder of being alive, as ever it’s told in the most poetic and epic fashion. ‘The Secret’s In The Telling’ gradually unfolds into an uplifting ode to hidden secrets and loves kept, the basic themes behind the song writing are essentially as they have always been, but this song helps paint a fresher picture, one that works in their favour. This song quickly fades out and in comes the slow burning ballad ‘Stolen’, which is certainly one of the better songs on the album, the simplicity of the chorus line “you have stolen my heart” is the sort of thing that can lodge itself in your head for days at a time. The end of ‘Stolen’ comes following some soaring vocal lines, before coming to a rapid halt and the album shifting pace in catchy number ‘Rooftops and Invitations.’

This fifth song (almost the album’s half way stage) is where it starts to go a little wrong. The idea of this song is great, a catchy lead riff right through the intro, which dips into a quiet verse and a full on, loud, emotive chorus, where that ever catchy riff returns. The songs sound insanely well polished, and now working with U2’s producer; Don Gilmore, Dashboard must engage intentions of being accepted in the mainstream, sadly they seem to be trying to conform to a defined structure too much, and sadly ‘Rooftops and Invitations’ is just too close to ‘The Secret’s in the Telling’ to really sound fresh. It’s with a sour note that I must note the next track has left me feeling deeply disappointed, the first time I saw the track listing, I was surprised to see the inclusion of ‘So Long, So Long’, the song had done the rounds as a download on the band’s official website in a form which last almost 6 minutes. This song has been trimmed down to be a little more radio friendly, it’s nice to hear Adam Duritz (of Counting Crows) singing some backing vocals, but the song is really lost without the second verse. It’s really disappointing to see that this is what the song is reduced to when the original was so epic.

Following this it’s time for another slow burner, it’s hard to decide whether the band are trying to be euphoric or chilled out. ‘Currents’ continues to slow the mood down further, before exploding into another big; emotive chorus. ‘Slow Decay’ adds some new sparks to the almost preaching quality Carrabba brings to his emotional songs, as every other band on the planet have done, Dashboard have written a war song, this is a nice number though, if this was the only song you got to hear off the album, you may not believe it’s Dashboard, the opening is reminiscent of some of the material from Brand New’s ‘Deja Entendu’ album. The song builds up to an epic climax which involves some screaming from Carrabba, though this is done a lot more tastefully than some of the earlier mentioned “emo” bands.

‘Dusk and Summer’ is the perennial slow burner of this album, it’s amusing to note Dashboard have written an acoustic song, as a fully fledged rock band would intend to write one acoustic song just to slow things down. In their favour, the band have an arsenal of successful acoustic songs (it is where they came from), so writing a new one is no hassle, and this is a very touching song. Telling the story of young summer love, this is a summation of the feelings of the entire album, and it’s nice to note how lyrically Dashboard have advanced into a state which makes the whole package seem a lot more grown up. We all loved them for singing what we always felt, but now it’s done with a newfound feeling of maturity. Initially, this makes the songs a little less accessible but overall definitely makes them more loveable. ‘Dusk and Summer’ is the perfect example of this new band. ‘Heaven Here’ finishes off the CD in a nice fashion, equally chilled out, this dips and peaks like so many other songs from the CD; but it’s forgivable as alone it is also a very good song, though with a feel which reminds of Angels and Airwaves’ material, though the relief here is it’s only in the one song. The single from hit movie ‘Spiderman 2’, ‘Vindicated’ is added as an afterthought for the UK version of this CD, and, as a bonus track it fits very nicely, and gives a nice feeling of accomplishment at the end of the CD, that or it drowns out the previous 40 minutes, as it really is one of their better songs overall.

To conclude the opinion of this new album, it’s nice to see Dashboard adapting to the current musical climate and distancing themselves slightly from the scene which first embraced them and then outgrew them. There is a feeling of a formula being applied to the songs here though; it is slightly disappointing to think that the songs weren’t just written to tell a story, but to fit into the desired sound of the mainstream market. It’s a tribute to the band that they can pull off such a great album by adjusting to a formula, though it is still an exclusively Dashboard one. Carrabba’s voice delivers with enough conviction to add belief to every single word, they may not be as instantly and widely accepted as previous songs, but Dashboard gigs are sure to remain the therapeutic sing along sessions they always have been. The songs may be different, the spirit of the band remains, and it’s good to see they have so much more depth than everybody seems to be willing to give them credit for. Don’t write Dashboard Confessional off so quickly…

Kevin Barnes