Straylight Run - Straylight Run

Genre rock Publisher Victory Records External Links Straylight Run Victory Records

Dawson's Creek has much to answer for. In addition to the hordes of clones that have followed in its wake, it also started a worrying trend of using an emotive indie-rock track to soundtrack the emotionally-charged final five minutes of an episode. Eventually, bands seemed to develop songs especially for these moments, becoming bland background textures while Joey Potter and Dawson Leery swapped furtive glances in a restaurant.

Straylight Run is Taking Back Sunday's John Nolan and Shaun Cooper, along with John's sister Michelle and Breaking Pangaea's drummer Will Noon. And they've produced an album which seems custom-made for a teen drama. The opener, "The Perfect Ending", is a typical indie-rock ballad, complete with a glockenspiel to make it feel more fragile, and lyrics like "if you feel loved or needed / remember you're one of the lucky ones" song over-earnestly. It's not a promising start.

The second track, "The Tension and The Terror" is more uptempo, more shiny; possibly a better fit for the The O.C.. Pretty and bouncy, but with enough angst to make you feel sorry for the perfect teenagers with their multi-million dollar homes. The song benefits from having Michelle Nolan joining on backing vocals, but again, there's nothing to distinguish it from any of the other indie bands vying for your attention.

A title as pretentious as "Existentialism On Prom Night" calls, no demands, for a song that can live up to its name; something arresting and interesting. Unfortunately, what we get is another standard ballad. There's nothing wrong with it, except for the nagging feeling that you've heard this song many times before, in a slightly different arrangement. Was it The Goo Goo Dolls? Semisonic? As the song fades to let John Nolan sing the final lines by himself, you've forgotten just how it began in the first place.

It continues. Track follows track, and the album begins to become 21st century Muzak. They may be slow ("Another Word For Desperate"), they may be faster ("Dignity and Money"), but they all merge into one bland mass. Three-quarters of the album goes by in this fashion. But then. It changes. "Tool Sheds And Hot Tubs" starts. For four minutes, it's like a different band has somehow managed to sneak itself onto the CD, and this one likes to dance. The drums become electric, the guitars deliver short, catchy, hooks, and the keyboards give it a pop sheen. Michelle Nolan takes on the lead vocals, and it's wonderful; the keyboard-driven bridge and the cry of "Call Me!" being a particular highlight. It's not just the delight of having something different after seven similar-sounding songs; for the duration of "Tool Sheds And Hot Tubs", Straylight Run find their niche; as a band that should be making glorious electro-pop numbers.

Sadly, it doesn't last. "It's For The Best" returns to the ballad sound, and even though Michelle returns to sing lead on the penultimate track "Now It's Done", it is once again cut from the standard indie-rock cloth: strings, emotive guitar section, and histrionic vocals as the song comes to a close. The album ends with "Sympathy For The Martyr," a whimper of a track that declares "a laundry list of problems doesn't make you interesting," a statement that unfortunately applies to ten of the eleven songs on this CD.

As debut albums go, Straylight Run is not a complete disaster. There's four minutes that sound heavenly, and I hope the band can develop this sound when they begin recording again. However, the forty-six minutes of tedium will have to go. After all, it's longer than an episode of Dawson's Creek.