Emotionally anxious young american band? Surely not.
There For Tomorrow may have been around for the last six years or so, but ‘A Little Faster’ marks both their debut full-length (proper, grown-up) album, and their move into the mainstream. Hailing from Orlando, Florida, they sound exactly like they should be soundtracking an MTV show about emo teenagers. Possibly emo vampire teenagers. Needless to say, if you have a problem with emotional angst, pain, suffering, loss etc. in music, give this a very wide berth.
TFT have a newly polished, anthemic sound that most music television would wet itself over. Strong, powerful rhythms and crunching riffs all the way through covered with a thick coat of production-standard gloss by Paramore/Dashboard Confessional producer James Paul Wisner. Opener ‘The Remedy’ has ‘hit’ written all over it, with a particularly memorable hook, it will probably be an instant fan favourite. The problem is that from then on, the album becomes very standardised. Maybe it’s an overdose of very similar-sounding music, but by ‘Stories’ it’s faded to (quite loud) background music. Cliché piles upon cliché, although strangely it doesn’t bother me as much as it usually would. There’s nothing particularly offensive in strong ballad ‘Just In Time’ or smooth ‘I Can’t Decide’. They’re just not particularly memorable in the long run.
‘Sore Winner’ is a little more experimental with their sounds and rhythms, and the effect is more entertaining. The lyrical content is as puzzling as ever, but nonetheless catchy, and the musicianship is particularly accomplished. There’s even a hint of a guitar solo. Ditto for ‘The World Calling’, which has moments of inspiration buried within a standard pop-rock blast. ‘Burn The Night Away’ is a welcome relief from the aural onslaught with a brief acoustic break. Sadly the vocals don’t adapt and lose their whiny quality for the track, but that could be asking too much considering the genre. Across the album in general, the vocals are competent and fitting, if a little bland.
If you know and love your emo/post-hardcore already, this would be a very good addition to the collection. As a collection of songs it’s a very danceable, if blatantly mainstream, way to rock out. A very passable addition to the current alternative scene.