Jeremy Aaron
04/22/09, 01:42 PM
FM Static - Dear Diary
Record Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Release Date: April 7, 2009
Who?
FM Static is the other project of Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine, frontman and drummer, respectively, of Tooth & Nail band Thousand Foot Krutch. Dear Diary is their third full-length, following 2003's What Are You Waiting For? and 2006's Critically Ashamed.
How Is It?
FM Static is a fitting name for a band whose music is so centered around radio ready hooks, much like Thousand Foot Krutch. Either band's music would have sounded very at home on modern rock radio ten or twelve years ago, with Thousand Foot Krutch covering the harder-edged post-grunge and nu-metal and FM Static staying more in the realm of pop-rock and pop-punk. Put both bands' discographies in a CD changer and set it to shuffle, and the mix you'd hear is pretty much what rock radio sounded like a decade ago. That's no great compliment, to be sure, but I take a certain pleasure in this type of pop songcraft, which is mostly cheesy, totally derivative, and always catchy.
From an artistic standpoint, Dear Diary is no great achievement-- it sounds pretty much just like FM Static's two prior albums, which in turn sound exactly like that radio DJs were spinning in 1997. McNevan seems to draw from few influences other than radio and MTV, as his lyrics throughout all the band's albums namedrop a veritable Who's Who of stars whose days have come and gone and many of whose claims to fame were questionable to begin with. It seems like a bit of a contradiction that the music's lyrical focus is high school, yet a good portion of the album's pop-culture references will likely be lost on anyone actually still in high school.
Musically, the album is both appealing and frustrating, because the songs are ably performed and the production is squeaky clean, but everything sounds so uncannily familiar. The hooks and riffs are ultimately rewrites of songs you've heard over and over again before, and while this is disquieting to my critical mind, I find it impossible not to tap my foot or drum my fingers along with these songs. Any one of these tunes could have been a hit single years ago, but time has pretty much passed this style by.
Despite the strikes against it, I'd classify Dear Diary as a guilty pleasure, not because I can sympathize with FM Static, but because I can at least recognize what they are, or at least what they seem to be. Like the star high school quarterback who led his team to the state championship only to stay in town and take a job at the hardware store, FM Static don't seem to have had anything happen in their lives worth writing about since graduation. Listening to this album is kind of like driving by a field and seeing said former star tossing a ball around with some buddies-- you might feel a little bit sorry for him, knowing he'll probably never capture that kind of magic again, or perhaps a bit nostalgic because you, too, remember those days like they just happened. One emotion I can't conjure is disdain-- unlike the easily-hated trend-hoppers, FM Static are making music that's decidedly uncool because it's what's closest to their hearts. While I'm the last person to advocate living in the past, I do appreciate the occasional time warp, and for me, that's what Dear Diary represents.
Sugarcult's Start Static
Sum 41's Underclass Hero
In Stereo's Return to Alternative
Eve 6's Eve 6
Quietdrive's When All That's Left Is You
Check out FM Static on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/fmstatic).
Record Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Release Date: April 7, 2009
Who?
FM Static is the other project of Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine, frontman and drummer, respectively, of Tooth & Nail band Thousand Foot Krutch. Dear Diary is their third full-length, following 2003's What Are You Waiting For? and 2006's Critically Ashamed.
How Is It?
FM Static is a fitting name for a band whose music is so centered around radio ready hooks, much like Thousand Foot Krutch. Either band's music would have sounded very at home on modern rock radio ten or twelve years ago, with Thousand Foot Krutch covering the harder-edged post-grunge and nu-metal and FM Static staying more in the realm of pop-rock and pop-punk. Put both bands' discographies in a CD changer and set it to shuffle, and the mix you'd hear is pretty much what rock radio sounded like a decade ago. That's no great compliment, to be sure, but I take a certain pleasure in this type of pop songcraft, which is mostly cheesy, totally derivative, and always catchy.
From an artistic standpoint, Dear Diary is no great achievement-- it sounds pretty much just like FM Static's two prior albums, which in turn sound exactly like that radio DJs were spinning in 1997. McNevan seems to draw from few influences other than radio and MTV, as his lyrics throughout all the band's albums namedrop a veritable Who's Who of stars whose days have come and gone and many of whose claims to fame were questionable to begin with. It seems like a bit of a contradiction that the music's lyrical focus is high school, yet a good portion of the album's pop-culture references will likely be lost on anyone actually still in high school.
Musically, the album is both appealing and frustrating, because the songs are ably performed and the production is squeaky clean, but everything sounds so uncannily familiar. The hooks and riffs are ultimately rewrites of songs you've heard over and over again before, and while this is disquieting to my critical mind, I find it impossible not to tap my foot or drum my fingers along with these songs. Any one of these tunes could have been a hit single years ago, but time has pretty much passed this style by.
Despite the strikes against it, I'd classify Dear Diary as a guilty pleasure, not because I can sympathize with FM Static, but because I can at least recognize what they are, or at least what they seem to be. Like the star high school quarterback who led his team to the state championship only to stay in town and take a job at the hardware store, FM Static don't seem to have had anything happen in their lives worth writing about since graduation. Listening to this album is kind of like driving by a field and seeing said former star tossing a ball around with some buddies-- you might feel a little bit sorry for him, knowing he'll probably never capture that kind of magic again, or perhaps a bit nostalgic because you, too, remember those days like they just happened. One emotion I can't conjure is disdain-- unlike the easily-hated trend-hoppers, FM Static are making music that's decidedly uncool because it's what's closest to their hearts. While I'm the last person to advocate living in the past, I do appreciate the occasional time warp, and for me, that's what Dear Diary represents.
Sugarcult's Start Static
Sum 41's Underclass Hero
In Stereo's Return to Alternative
Eve 6's Eve 6
Quietdrive's When All That's Left Is You
Check out FM Static on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/fmstatic).