Review Summary: The moment when you discover that 'living at last' isn't as joyous as you had hoped.
People claim to like objectivity, yet we all crave to fit in. This is why, on a website such as this one, personal reviews garner much more attention in the long run than reviews written entirely around a piece of music. Everyone here likes to make fun of one another, but the chances are the majority of us have gone through the same battles. How else could we have ended up here? Anyway, the same thing kind of happened to me with this album. As asinine as this may sound, I'd never even heard of Dallas Green before this album, or any of the projects with which he had been associated. I listened to this album for one reason: to see what a girl found to be so special in another guy.
But as it turns out, Mr. Green had strong doubts just as I do. And about many of the same things as well. We both wonder if we've found 'the one'; and even if we've found her, we deeply ponder if it will be something that can be held onto. There's also our personal faults. The notion of acting in haste and only when things get unbearable. It seems like the better certain parts of our lives get, the worse other portions become, and they threaten to destroy the core of our being. And everyone always pretends to hide how they really feel. The past haunts and holds back everyone from the truly great future they might achieve. We're all quick to point out the faults of others, but fail to recognize our own.
These lyrical and sentimental ideas are multiplied by Green's genuine songwriting. It may be sappy; it may be somewhat corny; it may be oversensitive and melodramatic. However, the one thing it isn't is forced. The vocals are delivered through a soft, higher tone creating a dwelling for the pain and a resolution for it all at once. Regardless, it isn't effeminate. It has a distinctive character to it, resembling a voice that might be heard by someone outside if nature could speak. Many of the tracks use an echo effect on the vocals, which completes this specific approach to vocal delivery very well. And to complement the vocals is an assortment of acoustic guitars, keyboards, stringed instruments, and an occasional dabble in electric guitars.
Musically, the album is centered around the acoustic guitar, with everything else being included only to enhance the effect of it. The best example of this is the steel pedal which is used on some of the tracks. The atmosphere created by its minimal input is astounding, adding a layer of desolation and loneliness unattainable without it. And again, it's just one example of how this album not only points out our fears, pain, and lack of progress as individuals, but as a community as well. We might as well be honest. Everyone will go through tough times at certain points in their lives.
