Perfect Future – Self Titled

The day I got this record I had to run out to pick up some pizza for supper. I needed something new to listen to in the five minute car ride and grabbed The Perfect Future’s self-titled album because it had the best artwork in the pile CDs that laid in front me. I threw it in my CD player and went to go pick up the pizza.

As I backed out my driveway, a thought popped into my head: “man, there’s been a lot of post-hardcore albums released lately – its definitely making a resurgence.” A few seconds later, as I reached the end of my cul-de-sac, a second thought popped into my head: “my god, this sounds very high-schoolish.”

To expand on my first thought, Perfect Future’s self-titled release is a post-hardcore album and it’s hard to describe it any other way.  It carries with it a sparse sensation, where everything is delivered at its bare necessities.  There are intricate melodies that carefully intertwine with one another, pulsating ever so softly as the passion ebbs and flows through the carefully plucked guitar riffs. But just as soon as you become accustomed to the soothing, soft blowing harmonies (like Make Fun), they throw in a curve ball and explode with frantic screams and heavier riffs that strongly contrast the mellower side (see Mother Earth). It works with the whole ebb and flow sensation but sounds so much better when they pull it back and live on the edge of the explosion without ever actually catapulting over the edge – like If We Dance(which begins with a fantastic clip from K-Pax) and the mid-nineties grunge rock anthem In Hopes.

And yet, to touch on my second thought, Perfect Future still seems to very high-schoolish.  By that I mean I can’t get over the less than stellar recording quality of the record. It seems very low-fi and weak, missing a punch that would hold it all together. Front-man Brendan Stephens has fantastic lyrics (seriously read them, you won’t regret it) but doesn’t have a strong enough set of pipes to keep me coming back. He sounds weak and unsure of himself, a bit too nasally and soft spoken so he becomes unable to fully capture the listener’s ear. It’s a vocalist that hasn’t found himself yet and sings with a quiver of uncertainty and slight immaturity in his voice and that, coupled with the hollow production quality, makes Perfect Future sound a little too high-schoolish for me.

Still, it’s way better than most high school bands.