San Diego’s favorite sons – the multi-platinum selling rock band Switchfoot delivers exactly what their fans have been clamoring for – fresh new music. Their eagerly awaited sixth studio album (third for Columbia records) “Oh! Gravity” is an outstanding effort easily appeasing their throngs of fans.
Switchfoot is comprised of Jon Foreman (vocals, guitar) brother Tim Foreman (bass, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums), Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals,) and Andrew (Drew) Shirley (guitar).
“Oh! Gravity” is the first new studio collection from Switchfoot since the group’s “Nothing Is Sound,” entered the Billboard Top 200 best-selling albums chart at #3 in September 2005.
“Oh! Gravity” is produced by Tim Palmer (U2, Tears for Fears, Pearl Jam, The Cure, and Tin Machine) and Switchfoot. The album is executive produced by Grammy-winning producer of the year Steve Lillywhite who also at the helm of the track “Awakening” with additional production by Palmer and Switchfoot.
For this new album, Switchfoot has developed a harder rock edge for their sound and songs on “Oh! Gravity”. All songs on the album were written by frontman Jon Foreman and Switchfoot. This includes their first single the title track “Oh! Gravity,” “American Dream,” “Awakening,” “Dirty Second Hands,” “In This Life,” “Amateur Lovers,” “Circles,” “Faust,” “Yesterdays,” “4:12,” “Burn Out Bright,” and “Let Your Love.”
“We’re always used music as a vehicle to explore our own questions and frustrations,” says Jon Foreman of the bands new album, “Oh! Gravity”. After 2003’s double-platinum selling, “The Beautiful Letdown,” and another two gold selling albums, “Nothing Is Sound,” and “Learning to Breathe,” Foreman sums it all up by saying, “I’m in therapy and I write songs. It’s all an attempt to try to come to terms with reality. It is just that kind of intense introspection that draws their audience into their music sharing that personal interconnection and sensationalism fans have begun to expect from this band.
Switchfoot often combines a spiritual bent with a critique of some of modern society’s hypocrisies on song like the Top 5 singles “Dare You to Move,” and “Meant to Live,” as well as such tracks as “Politicians” and “Happy is a Yuppie Word” from their last album “Nothing Is Sound.”
“Oh! Gravity” expands Switchfoot’s sonic palette while at the same time deals with social issues dealing with the crux of their problems in songs such as the alt-country blues of song “Dirty Second Hands,” in which Foreman sings of the dehumanization that comes with technology. It’s as if man versus technology.
Other politically motivated tracks include the title track, “Oh! Gravity,” a general appeal for love, peace, and understanding. This track is a searing rendition of this high-energy tune, which poses the question “Why can’t we keep it together?”
“American Dream,” with it’s biting truth (“When success is equated with excess/The ambition for excess wrecks us”) this desire for the excesses in life that we come to expect to fuel our quest for the American Dream is suggested in this clever tune.
“Awakening,” is about trying to recover the innocence of a child in the midst of an ever-harsher reality of life. While their songs may be politically motivated they don’t hit you over the head with their opinions rather they are objective letting you draw on your own conclusions.
Their A & R exec, the Grammy-award winning producer Steve Lillywhite helped the band to achieve the songs (“Awakening”) Police-like world beat and epic wide-screen scope. “We’ve all been hurt. It’s a way of portraying the thing we often try to protect and hide- our innocence-as a strength,” Foreman explains about the song.
Coming off three hit records in a row, the band approached their new album with a quiet confidence and a desire for musical growth. They expanded their musical scope which can be heard on the sawing alt-country of “Head Over Heels,” (an ode to all is fair in love and war…find your place to belong), the exotic instrumentation and Middle Eastern flavor of “Circles,” the REM-esque pulse of “4:12”(beautiful string section), the lush Brit-pop melodies of “Yesterdays,” and the Echo and the Bunneyman/Smiths influenced “Burn Out Bright” and the Motown sound of “Amateur Lovers (a Stones-esque tune).
After all the success and rewards, Foreman insists he’s not feeling any pressure to top the band’s superb track record, but is coolly confident about the new album. “It can kill the art worrying about how the records going to do,” he says. “For us success is making music that is gratifying to you. The break-even point for the record that my band made back in high school was for us to sell 300 copies. To us, that was success. We took a chance on this record, not to sound selfish, but to make something for ourselves. What other people think can’t change our minds about these songs. And that is a good feeling. Because you believe in it or you don’t.”
For the fans, Best Buy and Circuit City are offering an exclusive 2 Bonus Tracks: “Burn Out Bright” (Acoustic) and “C’mon C’mon” (Remix). Plus, a FREE download Bonus track “American Dream” (Acoustic) which you can download using a special code.
Switchfoot has found a comfortable place for themselves with this new record. Being able to intermingle politics with relationship issues is something they do so every skillfully. It seems that everything they touch turns to gold. They have made their fans true believers. Check them out at www.switchfoot.com or on Myspace.com/switchfoot.
Be sure to catch them on tour in a city near you. The band is playing in smaller venues to be closer to their fans.
