Reviews

This album pissed me off. I was really expecting something from Aaron Gillespie, UnderOath’s drummer and melodic, singing voice. Rumors were floating around of an electronically tinged, indie rock record. Umm, no. What we end up with is UnderOath-lite.
 
Most of this record sounds like unfinished b-sides from They’re Only Chasing Safety. All you have to do is dial down the distortion and eliminate the screaming and you’ve got this woefully bland, though highly marketable, CD. Don’t get me wrong, Gillespie knows how to write a good, catchy melody. He obviously spent a lot of time on this record and Aaron Sprinkle’s production is pristine. But all that adds up to is a release with little identity and even less accomplishment. Sure these tunes can make you tap your feet and you’ll wanna sing along to a few of them, but most of Southern Weather ends up being very sterile sounding; I just feel like no chances were taken and the few that were sound too perfectly recorded to spark any interest.
 
My two favorite tracks on the album are probably opener “Say This Sooner” and album namesake, “Southern Weather.” Both of these tunes provide some decent pop-rock sensibilities and can carve a nice niche in your brain, but the lack of anything but the most trite of lyrics really hamper the songs on this album. Which leads me to my biggest complaint and something I find damn near inexcusable.
 
Track three, “Dirty and Left Out,” features a guest vocal by none other than Jeremy Enigk. This was the song I wanted to hear and another reason I was looking forward to this release. After his fantastic appearance in “O, Porcupine” on the last mewithoutYou record, I expected Enigk to pull another rabbit out of his hat. What we get instead is a ridiculous, swaying acoustic homage to Jesus complete with the lyrics, “Jesus / Jesus / There’s something about your name / Master / Savior / Jesus.” Okay, now I don’t care what religion you adhere to but if you’re gonna include lyrics about your faith on a record, please find an artistic way of saying it; if you care so much, put some time into it! mewithoutYou are able to pull that off perfectly and I enjoy Aaron Weiss’ musings on his faith and how it affects him; they feel completely honest. But this, this sounds like something off a Michael W. Smith album…and Enigk, what the hell were you thinking? But this isn’t the kicker. What really gets me is that these lines ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE LYRICS INSIDE THE INSERT! What, did Virgin (who’s partnering with Tooth and Nail for this release) say “no way” to the words actually being printed? This is ridiculous and comes off feeling like some kind of covert brain washing; if you have ideals and beliefs, more power to you, but stick the fuck to them and have the balls to include them in your art.
 
Okay, so that’s about all I have to say. I expected quite a bit more from Gillespie and he sparingly delivered. Maybe he’ll try some more production ideas next time instead of just going for the standard Pro Tools sound that everyone uses these days. I’m impressed with Sprinkle’s ability to crisply capture everything but the record ends up feeling heartless and plastic because of the smooth production. There are a few tunes on this record that I like and will listen to occasionally but, overall, this release verges on boring and really isn’t worth your time.