Dashboard Confessional - Dusk and Summer

Genre rock Publisher Vagrant Records External Links Official Dashboard Confessional Website Official Vagrant Records Website

I must say that, aside from catching him/them at Lollapalooza last year in Chicago (where they were mercilessly and, to some degree, unfairly maligned by Brian Jonestown Massacre leader Anton Newcombe, who was on another stage opposite Chris Carrabba and company), seeing the "MTV Unplugged" performance, and hearing their big radio songs, I know nothing of Dashboard Confessional's music. Maybe I've heard it all? Judging by their latest, Dusk and Summer, I think not.

This is oddly powerful and compelling wuss-rock. But hold on. I'm not trying to be an asshole to Carrabba. He does this thing well and the chicks obviously swoon for him and his writing abilities. It's well composed, thoughtful, enchanting rock music for chicks and wussies. No harm in that, I say. Is it great art? That depends on your view point. I say it's fun music for the summer. It's music that is good enough to deal with if your significant other digs it. It's far better than most of Carrabba's musical offspring, that's for sure. And Chris's voice has gotten a lot stronger over the years, signifying something akin to a young man's balls finally dropping. Take that you whiney, pimply faced emo-core bands.

For such a wee man (I've seen this cat up close...he's a tiny fellow), Carrabba commands attention vocally and musically. He's not Keats or Frost or Dylan, but Carrabba puts his innermost thoughts and emotions to paper quite convincingly (consider "Stolen's" passage of "We watch the season/Pull up its own stakes/And catch the last weekend/Of the last week/Before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced/Another sun soaked season fades away"). I'm no poetry major, but I was struck by that verse instantly. Carrabba's a sappy bastard, much to my own heart, if truth be told. Honestly, I could use some of his unadorned sentimentality. We're all so scared to feel these days that it seems as if Carrabba is a rather simple entrance back towards our humanity. Yeah, that's stretching it, but allow me to get flowery. For that matter, allow Carrabba the opportunity, as well as allowing yourself the same.

Dashboard Confessional's Dusk and Summer perhaps shouldn't be classified as emo or wuss rock after all. Is there such a genre as "humane rock"? No? Well there should be.