Straylight Run – Prepare To Be Wrong

I love Straylight Run and their debut self-titled album from last year. It even made its way into my top ten list, nestled high up in spot number four. But for some reason, the only thing that pops into my mind during Prepare To Be Wrong is “what happened?”

This is not the Straylight Run I fell in love with. There’s no passion, no emotion, and it is just pretty boring for the most part. It starts off poorly right away with I Don’t Want This Anymore; a three minute forty-three second song with only four lines of lyrics, dragged on and repeated over and over again by Michelle Nolan. It doesn’t do anything to get the listener excited but put them to sleep instead.

Next up is It Never Gets Easier, which you may recognized as Costello, a song which the band released a while ago online. And while it isn’t up to par when compared to the old Straylight, this song definitely holds the album together a bit, bringing in what the fans know and love. Sadly, that’s not the only re-release song on here either. They also have a reworked version of A Slow Descent, which you will probably remember as one of the six songs originally released through the internet by Nolan and the gang.

It’s as if they don’t know what they want to do here, while Late That Year has some great lyrics, that too gets dragged on, and by the end you’re reaching for the skip button. The Bob Dylan cover of With God On Our Side would’ve easily fit in the recent Drive-Thru Records tribute compilation, but doesn’t really fit here. It is a decent song with some great melodies and lyrics, but those are Bob Dylan‘s work, not theirs. So the fact that that’s one of the highlights shines doubts on the album.

There’s a rumor going around that these guys rushed through this CD to void their contract with Victory Records, whether that’s true or not, I have no idea. But hopefully it was rushed and that these songs will be left alone on this EP and not brought to their next full length. And I hope that their next album will pick up where with Self-Titled ended, just skipping this little mistake. I was expecting another album for my top ten list, I guess I was wrong.