Runway 36's sound on this, their third full-length CD, seems partly defined by the four-part vocal variations, but mostly by the omnipresent swelling of both tempo and dynamics. Glistening guitar lines and floaty piano-based chord progressions dominate the songs, but it's the drums that direct everything. Each build up and tear down of intensity is forewarned on the skins. Maybe that's why the climaxes don't quite galvanize me the way I want them to - it's all just too easy to see it coming. But predictability is the number one ingredient when cooking up hooks.
There's no lack of chops on this record; the interplay between the guitars in the latter half of "Sunset" comes across as a real high point. The title track starts out with a great little keyboard lick running through most of the verses, but the problem is it gets simplified in the chorus, rather than embellished. Most of the songs are structured toward harmonic development, which does a great job of keeping the listener's interest all the way through, but it seems like they haven't yet figured out how to craft a really moving chorus.
Some of the album sounds like a bit quieter version of Ambulance Ltd. And some of the guitar lines recall Secret Machines. The disco hi-hats and rhythm guitar staccato on "Everlasting" makes me think of We Are Scientists; Scientist's vocalist Keith Murray's less croony side is a pretty good reference point for the timbre in the lead vocals. Overall, it's a pretty polished sound that's unabashedly inoffensive. I guess it's just hard for me to go ga ga over something no one could possibly hate with all their heart. CMJ
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