Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees

Vagrant Records

There was much talk this past summer on the internet about the direction of the upcoming Dashboard Confessional album. After the somewhat disappointing public response to their Dusk & Summer collection, word was that Chris Carrabba was going to steer the material and production back to the more intimate stylizing of their earlier work. While The Shade of Poison Trees does fulfill these prophecies, for the most part, there is still bombast to be found throughout the album. Returning producer Don Gilmore does a fantastic job of staying out of the way and letting the band's nuances shine through the output.

Fans of Carrabba's older output will rejoice over "Fever Dreams" and opening track "Where There's Gold…" with their acoustic instrumentation and campfire sing along choruses. If you've ever seen footage of the band live, you know how one of their contests can seem like a revival. The song "Thick as Thieves" will lend itself to this tradition well. It's no wonder the melodic winner was chosen as the first single. These are the kinds of moments that made Dashboard Confessional so brilliant in the first place. Luckily for the listeners, they have returned home.

Carlos Ramirez