It's not every day that a band manages to title an album in such a way that captures with precision not only a striking duality of themes on their record, but also the band's current position in their career. The title of The Matches' third studio album, "A Band in Hope," accomplishes this feat with the punk rock irreverence that their fans have come to expect.
Looking at the words alone, the optimism present in this latest effort shines through. With their third album for Epitaph, The Matches have a new shot at regaining critical acclaim, and enough experience from their past studio albums, "E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals" (2004) and "Decomposer" (2006), to have done a truly remarkable job. But if one reads the title quickly ("abandon hope"), the disappointment that The Matches must have felt when "Decomposer" received mixed reviews and sub-par sales becomes readily apparent. In fact, "A Band In Hope" was originally slated to be titled "The Mad Silentist" with a release date shortly following Decomposer, but was scrapped and rewritten due to the prior album's less-than-enthusiastic reception.
But let's let the past fade into history. The indie-pop-punk boys from Oakland, Calif. are back, and they are ready to rock in a unique way. The album kicks off with "AM Tilts," an infectiously catchy pop-rocker about the dawn after a questionable one-night stand. It dissolves at the end into a thrashing punk breakdown, as if to let the listener know that although their opening song sounds like it could crack a Top-40 list. The Matches have not lost their edge.
To reinforce this point, the next track, "Their City," sounds like a more traditionally grim punk manifesto against conformity: "The highway's already alive/ With the khakis teeming with caffeine/ To coax the cursor 'cross the screen." With a driving '80s-punk-style rhythm and spiraling vocals and guitars, the song simultaneously oozes Queen and Rancid.
The album continues in a similar vein of duality, contrasting the indie-pop with the punk-rock, and optimistic or light-hearted lyrics with more pessimistic, embittered themes. Hearing songs such as "Wake The Sun," "We Are One," "Yankee in a Chip Shop," and "Point Me Toward The Morning," the listener cannot help but feel uplifted by the confluence of upbeat melodies and encouragingly penned words.
The Matches still know how to work a mood, however, and they prove it with more ominous or cynical numbers, such as "Darkness Rising," "From 24C," and the sharply critical "To Build a Mountain," which goes, "Maybe a saint is just a dead prick with a good publicist ... / And maybe ethanol is just methadone for oil addiction/ Maybe we'll all go green in desert shades of camouflage/ Go ask the bloodhounds 'til they find the mirage."
"A Band in Hope" does have its weak spots, however. The wistful, acoustic "Clouds Crash" represents a notable departure in style, both musically and lyrically, from most of the rest of the album and may have been better left off the final cut. Similarly, the bubble-gum-pop-sounding "If I Were You" comes off as a vapid love song despite its layered arrangement and complex anthem-rock progressions. Romantic themes in a modern world are more successfully explored on the punk-neurotic "Future Tense," which attempts to theorize about the future of a budding relationship. Weighing in at 14 tracks, "A Band In Hope" could definitely have benefited from dropping some of the deadweight songs.
All the same, The Matches have packed a lot of solid material into their third album. Drawing on a diversity of talents from such influential bands as 311, Goldfinger and Rancid for production duties paid off, as far as individual songs go. The choice to use so many different producers instead of just one ultimately detracted from the unity of the album. As a result, The Matches have struck a tenuous but appealing balance between the negative and the positive and between pop, indie and punk. With a little luck, "A Band in Hope" could launch the comeback story its title implies.
