Switchfoot releases hurricane into the music world
Posted by The Skyliner on November 18th, 2009Jordan Ecarma
Staff Writer
Switchfoot set new goals and showed exciting growth with Hello Hurricane. The alternative group took huge steps forward as a band in this seventh album, released Nov. 10. What was different about this particular record? Everything changed when they separated from their mainstream label, Columbia Records, to found their very own indie label called lowercase people records. But status as an indie band turned out to be deceptively freeing.
The making of this album was in itself a huge struggle. Working with dozens of songs and essentially no deadline led this record to have the most difficult creative process yet. But what the band intended with Hello Hurricane can be summed up in a statement by lead vocalist Jon Foreman: “If you don’t believe it with every ounce of your being, then why are you singing it?”
The band demonstrated its passion for music on this album. Switchfoot’s members questioned everything about their music during the making of it. They had to figure out where they wanted to go with the music and what they wanted to say. But they came together and worked through all the difficulties to make songs that could move people.
The stirring album opener, “Needle and Haystack Life,” has lyrics full of hope and promise: “In this needle and haystack life/I found miracles there in your eyes/It’s no accident we’re here tonight/We are once in a lifetime.”
Living with this kind of urgency seemed to be the main theme of Hello Hurricane, something that could also be heard on the first single “Mess of Me.” The heavy rocker track conveys the need to spend the rest of life truly living. The changes described in this song can illustrate the shifts in Switchfoot’s sound.
While this record did not feature the band completely changing its sound, there is an impressive new intensity to these tracks. The album has exquisitely layered harmonies that include powerful bass lines and the usual strong vocal styling that the band is known for. While Hello Hurricane definitely features a new kind of sound, the classic Switchfoot sound has not disappeared. It has simply been reinvented with an urgency and focus that only make the music better. Maybe the conflict and uncertainty that the band struggled with while making this album was actually a positive thing. In any case, it translated into a truly great record.
Many elements added to the album to make it more dynamic and relatable. Balance is a quality that was used well. While Hello Hurricane showcases Switchfoot’s heavy, rock-oriented side, it also reveals a gentler one. This softer side is featured well in the sounds of tracks like the warm romance of “Enough to Let Me Go” and the sweetly mingled regret and hope of “Always” and “Yet.” “If it doesn’t break your heart/It isn’t love,” Foreman sings on the latter track. These kinds of powerful emotions were found at the forefront of the songs on Hello Hurricane. It was the perfect storm.
Tags: Fall 2009, Vol. 109 - Issue 10