If x + y = z, and the goal is to Alter the Ending, then you need to modify variables x and y or throw in an extra variable. Dashboard Confessional teeter totters in their latest album, contemplating the grandiose philosophical questions, failing to pick a side.The album encourages new beginnings and commands change (at times), but Blame It on the Changes contradicts the preceding by impugning the changes. So forgive me if I’m a bit confused. Putting that aside, their sound for six tracks in is a little too big band for Dashboard, along the lines of The Fray and Lifehouse; rhythmic chattering strums as Chris Carrabba warbles in his emo signature voice. You might have to hit shuffle to find some variation. Finally, with nowhere to go but toning it down, Even Now is a graceful period of a man breathing her in, “Even in the dark of night, Even in the lowest light, Even as the world outside is spinning… I can always find you again.” And it could be the saddest of melodies, if you close your eyes, and imagine that this song is for a girl who has left this life. Themes threading through the album are, unmistakably, the soul, the sinful nature, divinity, and if you extrapolate the line, the after-life. And curiously, there are recurring references to burns, cinders, scorches and fires. If I were to psychoanalyze the lyrics of the album in its entirety, I would say that Dashboard Confessional might be in a metaphorical purgatory. Struggling to believe and doubting their adequacy, Carrabba emotes, “In the case of a selfish believer, it’s strange to be lost.” Lost and in a limbo.
Key Tracks: Hell on the Throat, Even Now, Blame It on the Changes
Moods: Sentimental, Passionate, Earnest, Bittersweet, Reflective, Searching
Buy: Alter the Ending
