by Debra Au
Daily Lobo
Phoenix isn't exactly a mecca for up-and-coming rock bands.
And it's like that for a reason.
When the Southwest town boasts bands such as Fivespeed, it's no wonder its only claim to fame is being hotter than hell most days of the year.
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In its album on Virgin records, Fivespeed's Morning Over Midnight is a confused mix of heavy guitar riffs and emo acoustics, which leaves listeners wondering what exactly they just listened to. Is it rock or my-girlfriend-just-broke-up-with-me-so-I'm-writing-a-song-about-it type of music?
It's a rather interesting dichotomy.
Just listen to the title track and "Misery Loves Company," and you'll think you're listening to two completely different bands. Sometimes it's good, even advantageous, for a band to have variety. But when they do a 360, it gets baffling. I almost thought I set my iPod to shuffle - the sounds are so opposite on the musical spectrum.
The album starts off strong with "Fair Trade," a blood-pumping three-and-a-half minutes of heavy guitar chords, but the rest of the tracks seem to fizzle out from there. There are signs of hope with "Touch of One," but it's like throwing a life preserver to a drowning man when the rope is two inches too short. Fivespeed drowns in a sea of banality. It parts the Red Sea of emo and rock, and lies helplessly in the middle.
Relationship issues are a central theme on the album. It's compared to: gambling addiction in "Vegas" with pounding drums and squealing guitars, sensitivity in "Blame it on You" - a low-voiced and slow-paced attempt that comes across more insecure than compassionate - and falling off a ladder in the sort of acoustic "Misery Loves Company."
If you think you've heard the sound and lyrics before, you probably have. They're trite and clichÇ. The hook in "Fair Trade" goes the mantra - "I'd give it up to get it all." How existentialist.
Essentially, Fivespeed is a confusing mess of music that you've probably heard before. You might not have heard it all on the same radio station, but you've heard it.
