We Still Dream – Something To Smile About

  • Cole Faulkner posted
  • Reviews

We Still Dream

Something To Smile About - Anchor Eighty Four Records

The scene seems to be on the tail end of the whole The Wonder Years fad, but bands with vested interests are still plowing forward.  In this case, I suppose I’ll be picking on Jacksonville, Florida We Still Dream as the most recent exemplar to cross my desk.  For their latest full length, Something To Smile About, the quintet plays in a recognizably nasally key similar to many.  But as HandgunsThe Summers,Crucial Dudes, and comparable acts have shown time and again, there’s no imitation for the original.

But first the good news; We Still Dream is made up of a happy bunch.  Their juvenile antics come rooted in a loose airy essence beaming with enthusiasm.  In “Things You Do” the chords bounce along with enough “na-nan-na-nas” to satisfy the Blink 182 kid in all of us.  Interestingly, the feel good vibe is intended to be very ironic.  For instance, opener “Happily Never After” is a declaration of overcoming depression based on directing negative thoughts towards an ex-girlfriend.  If music had a face, these tracks would be smiling (or smirking and sticking their tongue out when your back is turned).

The uppity demeanor invades every aspect of the accompanying musical score without much complexity, in effect offering little depth to an already very one-dimensional collection.  Front and centre, songs like “So Much Worse” lather on squeaky layers of production that push the Wonder Years references into early 00’s Fall Out Boy territory.  But where Fall Out Boy’s biggest strength has always been pushing well past the envelope, We Still Dream hold back.  Consequently the songs never break out, as perhaps they should; in fact most come off as repeats of previous songs.  Aside from the occasional distinctive lyric, by and large tracks like “Better Than This” and “Convince Me” blend into one another without much distinction.

When the curtain finally falls, We Still Dream leaves without much beyond face value.  And for an album with such a beaming smile, there’s little investment or incentive to leave without more than a sense of indifference.  Even the best songs (ie. “Dissipate”) come off as Relient K b-sides best left on the cutting room floor.  In such a saturated genre, Something To Smile About just doesn’t hold up.