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Switchfoot surfs in all indie style with "Hello Hurricane"

Joel Devyldere
The Commuter

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

San Diego band Switchfoot has gone indie (at last!) with their latest release “Hello Hurricane,” which is the first of four self-recorded and -produced albums. While the other three CD’s await release, the band can safely revel in this one’s success. I say this because they have a set of killer songs and some pretty great promotion (they’re featured on MSN and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” for example).

This is the first Switchfoot CD since 2006’s “Oh! Gravity,” but to many fans it hasn’t felt like it’s been that long. Lead-singer Jon Foreman has been busy – four acclaimed solo EPs and a side project with Nickel Creek’s Sean Watkins have all improved his cred as an independent songwriter. He’s emerged as a musician that just won’t stop reinventing himself. And this album is no exception. “Hello Hurricane” definitely shows some of the changes that Foreman, as well as the rest of the band, has been going through.

It opens with “Needle and Haystack Life,” a U2-style rock number reminiscent of the band’s 2005 release “Nothing Is Sound.” Soon following is the lead single “Mess of Me,” a punchy progressive rock tune that talks about entropy and the determination to change. “There ain’t no drug that they can sell…” Foreman sings, “the sickness is myself…. I’ve made a mess of me. I want to spend the rest of my life alive.”

Later songs delve into topics such as purpose (“Bullet Soul”), desperation (“Free”), and the search for God (“Yet”). “The Sound (John M. Perkins’ Blues)” comes off like the lament of a revolutionary who has dedicated his life to loving others through implementing social change. “This is the sound of a heartbeat, this is the sound of the discontented mouths of a haunted nation. We are the voice of breaking down,” Foreman croons. Its a compelling message, one that echoes throughout the rest of this record: this nation has not found hope in ordinary things.

“Your Love is a Song” talks about God’s love like it’s a blatant reality that employs everything to create a musical message to the world. “I hear you breathing in, another day begins… Oh, your love is a symphony all around me, running to me.” In this song, Jon Foreman is presenting a concept that isn’t very often explored or thought of. His imagery has anti-theological ramifications that are simultaneously mind-blowingly refreshing and subversively thought provoking!

Virtually the only negative “Hello Hurricane” confronts the listener with is that Switchfoot’s lyrics seem to have lost some of their variety and complexity. While the three preceding Switchfoot albums have had more of a polished sound and lyrics that were seamlessly conceived, this one features a collection of songs that are a bit more off-balance, with lyrics a little less shoe-shiney and a slight bit more repetitive.

Nonetheless, I really enjoy the new Switchfoot sound. It’s catchy, but there’s also depth. It’s easy listening, but it also makes you think. The guitars make you want to mosh, the vocals make you want to stop and listen, and the lyrics inspire you to keep on the look-out for hope in a world of entropy. “Hello Hurricane” definitely deserves a stormy four out of five stars.

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