Music Review: The Shade of Poison Trees by Dashboard Confessional

So I was a little behind the times on this one! I was so excited for this to come out after I heard "Thick as Thieves" on the radio, and then life got in the way and I forgot about it until I received an iTunes credit. I love Dashboard Confessional enough that I usually buy their new releases "blind" (only having heard one song, or in the case of the last one, having heard none), and I have never been disappointed. Chris Carraba, as a songwriter and a singer, really resonates with me for some reason. He is known for singing fairly downtrodden, or even angry and depressed, music. After all, their first major song (for anyone who hasn't followed them, forgive me if you have) was called "Screaming Infidelities", which as you can guess is about a beloved girlfriend who cheated and then chose to be with the other guy, leaving him to deal with the messy emotions of seeing her around.

The last album, "Dusk and Summer", was sort of a departure from that, and this new album seems to get away from that even more. The lyrics are as bitter as ever, but the acoustics have picked up the pace a bit for the most part. Even though it was released in October 2007, I think this one is going to be big in my summer playlist.

All in all, if you like Dashboard Confessional, you will like this. If you think the lead singer sounds a little whiny (I have at times-I wasn't totally sold until "Vindicated" appeared on the Spiderman 2 soundtrack), you will like this CD better than his previous stuff. It's good for a mellow summer afternoon, but the songs are short enough to keep things moving nicely, and your house will still get cleaned. Just don't listen to the lyrics too closely unless you are already feeling a little bitter.

Favorite song: "Widow's Peak", about working together to strengthen a failing relationship, uses the imagery of being a lookout set to warn others of impending disaster, and is one of the most stripped down songs on the album. The bare-bones backing and haunting piano really highlights the slight strain in Chris Carrabba's voice as he reaches some beautiful high notes, keeping the song as empty and simple as the words suggest it should be.