Dashboard Confessional - Alter the ending

I'm going to be a bit lazy with this review. But this is my blog, so I guess I can do whatever I want. I don't know, I've never had much to say about Dashboard Confessional's songs. It's not that I don't like Chris Carrabba, I do. But I often have a hard time differentiating his songs.

This new album is a return to the full-band version of Dashboard, with an emphasis on keyboard, more present than on previous releases. Carrabba is famous for his beautiful voice and emotional lyrics, being the symbol of heartbroken emo kids in the early 2000's. Well, you can't sing about breakups during your whole life and he obviously has matured in his songwriting. Sure, he still sings and will always sing about love but, for instance, a few other topics approached on this sixth studio album are his faith and relationship with God or his sister's coma after she got into a car accident. You'll find many big hooks songs with mainstream production (most of it by Butch Walker): 'Get me right', surprising opener as it's a bit different from everything else on the record, reminds a poppier Brand New, 'The motions' and its light vocals and thick synth lines have a strong Fountains Of Wayne feeling (maybe because their songwriter Adam Schlesinger produced it), 'Blame it on the changes' features airy riffs a la U2 and the title-track has an alt-rock appeal Paramore wouldn't have rejected on their last album. Nothing is really amazing, but there are some good songs.
But what a lot of people (including me) agree on is that Carrabba's voice and songwriting is much more effective acoustically. I've always thought big studio processings didn't fit him. He probably figured that out after the release of the back-to-basics 'The shade of poison trees' as the deluxe edition of 'Alter then ending' includes a second CD with the acoustic version of the songs. And that's where the magic happens. Even if a few of them have regrettable polished pop-rock arrangement, the songs stand out much more when stripped down and played at their simpliest. They have more heart and the core of Dashboard Confessional can be found here. It really is a shame this is only a "bonus" disc and it can't be bought separately, just as the full-band version.

You can feel with 'Alter the ending' that Carrabba seems to be in a difficult position. He can't hide his will to break into the mainstream with most of the songs off the full-band CD, but it is not likely to happen (there are less immediate hits than on 'Dusk and summer') and he should rather consider how to conciliate his more pop-rock actual songwriting and the raw indie appeal of his post-emo material. It is done here, except it's on two separate CD's. It's still a good record fans will enjoy, but its polarized aspect prevents it to reach Dashboard's best moments.

3.5/5

Recommanded if you like:
Something Corporate, The Fray, Snow Patrol
Check also:
Bleu, Jon Foreman, Ace Enders And A Million Different People

www.myspace.com/dashboardconfessional
(Interscope Records, 2009)