Oh! Gravity. review

Oh! Gravity will become the most successful album of Switchfoot

It is always pleasant to watch a steady and what is even more important productive growth of the band to which you have some sympathy. And Switchfoot exemplifies this very case in the best manner. They've been ripening, experimenting, improving for a really long time. And nevertheless they have finally made a worthy, full-fledged album, which became an essence of their best ideas and culmination of their artwork. It is worth mentioning that every new album of this band gains some new extra benefits in comparison with the previous one, and the musical value of the every new creation grows in geometric series. The most interesting part here is that the pauses between the albums decrease approximately in the same progression: … 2000, 2003, 2005 and now 2006. What should we expect next, these guys are obviously ready to become a machine for platinum albums producing? It evokes no doubts that their new album Oh! Gravity released on December the 27, will become the most successful Switchfoot’s album at the time. Its stylistic manner can be described as a pop punk influenced mainstream rock with an alternative sound.

The album carries a lot of diverse material

If you will try to judge this album by the first song only then your opinion will be not just simply wrong but totally incorrect. The opening song Oh! Gravity is a short and solid piece, which is vividly displaying the band’s pop-punk roots. Brisk verse, quick-tempered chorus and rollicking riffs make this track sound the way the first rock-album’s song should. But the thing, which encloses the charm of this album, is that the majority of songs possess completely different characters. If we take the song Awakening, it turns out to be a potential radio hit. It has nothing that sounds out of place. Emotional, catchy verse bursts in a strong chorus; this song is an interesting variant of the way how tasty and competent the pop punk melodies and arrangements may be pumped up. The song that stands out as one of the best here is Switchfot’s most unpredictable track Dirty Second Hands. The song is based on bluesy acoustic riff. Vocals, low and viscid rhythm section and the melodic itself create an original dark atmosphere. It is also absolutely necessary to point out such tracks as Faust, Midas, And Myself; American Dream; Burn Out Bright; 4:12.

Oh! Gravity is full of life affirming and anti-materialistic ideas

Oh! Gravity is a definitely step forward for Switchfoot. In comparison with the previous works of the band Oh! Gravity deviates from mainstream oriented songs and opens some new musical spaces, which nicely fit the band’s already formed sounding and subject matter of their songs. Switchfoot has been always known as the band exalting Christian ideals and though most of the religious lyricism is absent here, the songs are still full of hopeful, life affirming and anti-materialistic ideas. Lead songwriter John Foreman manages to combine the simple truths pronounced long, long ago with his own life experience and thoughts. Yet, at times the anti-materialistic idea appears too often here and there all across the album. Oh! Gravity may be declared to be the best work of Switchfoot up to the present moment. This is an alive, diverse material, which delivers an easiest listening. Oh! Gravity will be a perfect replenishment for your collection even if you don’t share John Foreman’s views on life.