Manchester Punk Festival Releases 37th Compilation
Manchester Punk Festival have released the 37th volume of their compilation series ahead of this year’s festival. Manchester Punk Festival Vol. 37 is…
The Album - The Militia Group
Oh, yet another solo release. They seem to be more and more rampant these days, just as I stated in my review for Kevin Devine‘s new album last week. Bay Area’s Ronnie Day is the latest to submit his work into the ever competitive solo world, and while the album (cleverly titled The Album) won’t offer you anything new, incredibly adventurous or outstanding, The Album isn’t anything to complain about either.
Now, the lyrics aren’t the most intelligent thing possible, far from it. Instead, they are more generic and trite, the type of lyrics you’d expect from heart broken teens. Nothing standouts in the crowd or makes you stop and go “wow, I gotta go find the lyrics to truly read it.” Rather, Day‘s lyrics on The Album focus on the more common problems of the teenage mind: love, relationships, girls and the likes. They remind you of other solo acts, particularly Dashboard Confessional; and while they aren’t anything spectacular, they aren’t laced with pointless metaphors that make you go “what the fuck was he thinking?” either – and that is a bonus.
Really, Day resembles Chris Carraba and Dashboard Confessional in more ways than just the lyrics. Not only does he cover relatable subject matters, but he croons them in a passionate, out of tune voice. By that I mean that Day, like Carraba, doesn’t have the strongest voice. He wavers a bit and is slightly off key, but it doesn’t matter as the way he sings invites the listener to sing along. He invites them to share in the moment, share in the heartbreak and the adventure and shows that even if you don’t have the best voice, you should still try to sing along. And it works too, you can’t help but feel the emotion through Day‘s voice and slowly start to sing along on songs like Falling For You (with a beautifully crafted, piano/violin melody at the backbone of the song), Call My Name, Outside and Live Learned Loved Lost.
The Album isn’t life changing, isn’t challenging, isn’t raw; but it doesn’t need to be. It’s slow, emotional and carefully structured songs. And while there isn’t one song that jumps out at you (like Devine‘s The Burning City Smoking), the album itself is much more complete. A few fillers, but mostly just a great solo album to kick off a career of a young man who will be more than ready to step into the emo throne once Dashboard Confessional releases the crown.