The first track on Yellowcard’s newest album, Lift A Sail is aptly titled “Convocation.” A convocation, by definition, is a coming together. The introduction to this album is truly a convocation in music — no words, just pure music. The violin and the beautiful layers of sound reminds us exactly who Yellowcard is and why they always leave listeners excited from the word go.
Unfortunately, the rest of Lift A Sail is all over the place. The order of songs on the record makes no sense and it seems as though the band never quite decided on the sonic direction of the record. There are moments of the Yellowcard of old plus bursts of new progressive sounds and then there’s tracks that are unsuccessfully off-the-wall. This is an album to dig through, find the songs you like and download those.
The the album truly begins with “Transmission Home” a song that I liked in terms of its individual parts, but put together, it just isn’t as cohesive as I’d like it to be — which is a problem that seems to plague the album.
So where does Lift a Sail succeed? There are a few places on the album that are creative and beautiful. “One Bedroom” is a great combination of old emotion and new sound. It’s a simplistic, romantic song that works. This song is a highlight of the album.
The simplistic vibe that the band captures on “One Bedroom” is something that Yellowcard seems to strive for on multiple songs. “Madrid,” “Lift a Sail,” and “California” are attempts to capture the magic of “One Bedroom” but only “Lift a Sail” succeeds. In fact, the song is easily the best track on the record. “Madrid” fails epically in its attempt and “California” is just alright, but there was no need to put all of these similar tracks on one album.
Yellowcard of the past glimmers on a few tracks. “MSK” is the only track that truly highlights the violin sound that made the band iconic and unique. It’s a great reminder of why Yellowcard was such a hit. “Make Me So” has a fun beat and takes you back to the early 2000s pop/punk/emo vibe that was ever so popular.
“Why do I lose my head? You make me so. Why do I lose myself? You let me go.” Lyrics like that are early 2000s Yellowcard at its finest.
“My Mountain” is more of a fading echo of old Yellowcard — it’s solid, but it has no staying power. Lastly, “Crash the Gates” has powerful lyrics and the song has a lot of different dimensions and movement. This song could be considered boring but if you listen deeper to the song, you’ll be impressed.
If you want to hear something a little bit harder and new from Yellowcard, listen to “Illuminate” or “The Deepest Well.” And the one song to not go anywhere near? “Fragile and Dear.” Just no. Do not even bother. It’s peculiar and the band was trying to do way too much and frankly, it’s a disaster.
Lift A Sail has songs that do too much, songs that do not do enough and songs that are phenomenal. The album is anything but a cohesive work of successful music but there are some great tracks to be discovered.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
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Lisa Pikaard is a senior writer of Pop-Break who can be read weekly as part of Pop-Break’s Singles Party. She can also frequently be found reviewing and interviewing hard rock bands but her photo is secretly (or not so secretly now) on the Backstreet Boy’s Never Gone album booklet. Country, pop, rock, the genre doesn’t matter; she loves it all. Lisa also likes to dabble in book reviews and somehow convinced Monmouth University to award her a Master’s in English for writing a thesis called ‘Harry Potter and the Rhetoric of Terrorism.’ While her dream is to interview musicians on a daily basis, she currently works at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Brooklyn), so not a bad deal. Music, football and literature are her passions. Follow her on Twitter: @nygiantsnjgrl
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Sounds like the same thing that happened with Lights and Sounds. They tried to do too much and it all fell apart.
This album certainly is a departure, but comparing it to Lights and Sounds like that is a stretch. Lights and Sounds was the result of massive popularity getting to the members’ heads, Key’s strained vocals desperately requiring surgery, and the urge to outdo the hits from Ocean Avenue. Lift a Sail is coming seven years later, after only mild comeback success (though much critical applauding). Key’s vocals are arguably better than they have ever been and certainly more mature-sounding. They wonderfully adapt to the change in music style, which is mostly a result of the band’s desire to change things up to see what happens after so many straight pop-punk albums.
This band will forever hold a special place in my heart. Beyond stoked they got back together and I am really loving the new album. “One Bedroom” has gotta be my favorite though
Seriously take a listen if you haven’t already: http://smarturl.it/YellowcardVEVO
I feel this reviewer listened to the album two or three times quickly and then wrote down their thoughts without much digestion. This album is deeper than anything Yellowcard has made, and musically it’s beautiful. Just like any Yellowcard record, you can’t rate a song before knowing what it is truly about.
The music is beautiful and the lyrics hit hard. This album is easily one of their best, and a masterpiece in my opinion.