Dashboard Confessional

Just one year ago, Chris Carrabba's plaintive ruminations on lost love helped catapult Dashboard Confessional from cult favorite to mainstream hit and turned Carrabba into the poster boy for a much-maligned, musical sub-genre called emo. On Dashboard Confessional's breakthrough album, The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, Carrabba used sparse, acoustic instrumentation as a lilting background for diary-like lyrics. Now, however, emo has been replaced in popularity and as a category by what The New York Times recently dubbed "screamo" a more aggressive form of rock relying on--you guessed it--screaming to convey the same earnestness. Moreover, in general, there has been an ascendance in the popularity of more melodic punk rock. Finally, Vagrant Records, Dashboard Confessional's original label, is releasing the band's latest album in conjunction with Interscope Records. Perhaps it was the popularity of harder, faster punk rock, and the emo backlash, or merely the band's success and record label pressure that caused Carrabba to create a more dulcet, chorus-driven album. Nonetheless, Dashboard Confessional's latest offering, A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar is distinctly different from the band's past releases, featuring powerful instrumentation and melodic hooks but mostly weaker sentiments, leaving the listener entertained but not captivated.

The album's first three tracks feature the same driving guitars and rapid-fire drums of its lead single, "Hands Down." These infectious up-tempo tracks are performed with heartfelt intensity yet are lyrically less revealing. While "As Lovers Go" begins with bromidic quotes, "Rapid Hope Loss" features sound bites of emotion in Carrabba's repetition of the beginning of two lines in the chorus, "So much for.../ so much more...." Moreover, the presence of well-defined choruses, a characteristic that Places' free-verse compositions lacked, diminishes the impact of Carrabba's lyrics and imagery, which were vivid and memorable in past songs.

Nonetheless, on more atmospheric tracks in the middle of the album, Dashboard Confessional's newfound musicality adds melody to familiarly detailed lyrics, improving the effectiveness of the sentiments. "Carry this Picture" is a soft, swaying song that beautifully depicts Carrabba's newfound faith in love. Similarly, the final track, "Several Ways to Die Trying" is emotional and lyrically more sophisticated than previous efforts.

However, most of these poppier tracks are so singable and radio-friendly that the impact of Dashboard's confessions is less powerful for the listener. Moreover, following a summer that has already seen Jewel and Liz Phair forsake their introspective roots for pop stardom, it's unfortunate that Chris Carrabba, who once seemed so committed to remaining independent, is perhaps now embracing pop stardom as well. Overall, Dashboard Confessional's latest release is an enjoyable but less endearing album that also raises issues of artistic integrity and illustrates the unfortunate side effects of the popularity of indie rock.