Who Switchfoot Is These Days Earns Respect

San Diego's Switchfoot first got a major toe hold in the door of major league success in 2003 with the album "The Beautiful Letdown" and its two singles "Meant to Live" and "Dare You to Move". The singles moved at more of a methodical pace than "Who We Are", the first single lifted from the soon to be part of your iPod shuffle (maybe?)album "Fading West". I believe that switch to a more uptempo sound is a plus. Why you may ask? The shift into third gear gives us the chance to hear the very soul of what makes this band compelling. For starters, give Chad Butler the nod for the talents he uses on drums. The technicolor dazzle on this record is due in no small measure to the playful way Chad moves his way around the kit. Personally, the chorus and subsequent refrains have a zippy demeanor that says "Wouldn't this song sound in its element if performed by members of the cast of Glee? It's not hard at all to fathom. The cast would be singing about how there's still time enough to choose who they are. The segment involving "the fever of our youth" is tailor made to be uttered by a member of that cast. It would be a mistake to pigeonhole Switchfoot as strictly a Christian rock outfit, although that's one of the genres they've been associated with. They can wield the pop rock goods just as easily and with the same level of compelling verve as any one of the current crop of pop-rock outfits out there. Kudos goes out to the crew working the production helm for performing the neat trick of giving this band a highly affecting spit and polish job when the chorus is sung. The glittery, newly washed imagery is hard to shake. It's as if they're bathed in the most incandescent of lights and not even the darkest of hours is going to spoil that for them. Drew Shirley electrifies on guitar. It's his noteworthy presence on this record that opens the door to the unrestrained aggression of words and rhythm. At the opener his contribution sounds like it's levitating in a quadrant of outer space somewhere. When it does re-enter the earth's ozone the results are astounding. Tim Foreman's bass work is the solid ground lead vocalist Jon Foreman's voice rests on. The two meld with a seamless ease that moves the storyline embedded in the lyrics along gracefully. One section of the lyrics I find particularly poignant is that of "the child unbroken by the wheels gone by". If adulthood and the insisted upon burdens therein leave you wanting to gag (and who isn't feeling that vibe on occasion?) you'll take to these words like a duck takes to water. I'm nodding my head in approval at the reference to adults who say to their kids, quite possibly because they have no more of a clue how to escape the rising tide than their offspring, "It's complicated". Also, we hear about how it's the fight, the struggle that makes people who they are. Switchfoot is declaring victory of a sort over adversity. This band has graduated from the cautious steps of ten years ago to a sure-footed confidence that agrees with them in every phase of their interaction as a unit. "Who We Are" reveals the blissfully divine answer that...they are a dynamic fivesome churning full steam ahead. It'll be a real treat seeing what direction they go from here.