REVIEW: Taking Back Sunday - Taking Back Sunday

Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday
(Warner)
(out of 5)

Taking Back Sunday are back, and their new self-titled record is a fresh start from a band reunited with their original line up. But they are back, and the music is as solid as ever.

Having grown up listening to the likes of Jimmy Eat World, New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy etc, the nostalgic throwback is a refreshing change to the swamp of ‘indie’ I currently find myself in.

Armed with plenty of teenage angst (not that the emotional rollercoaster gets any less entertaining in your mid-to-late-20s), the record kicks into the gritty ‘El Paso’, followed by the heart-tugging anthem ‘Faith (When I Let You Down)’. The music video matches the content of the song; a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of money and fame. The video features a lolcat (it’s actually amazing).  As the song posits, you can (and should) lose your faith in all sorts of unnecessary things, “but when I let you down/look past your doubt/but please don’t lose your faith in me (I’m not going anywhere)”.

Though the record is defined by the very-fun pop punk format, the lyrics don’t shy away from the more heavy themes of life. ‘Best Places To Be A Mom’ reveals daddy issues (“am I just like the rest of them?/the sum of my father and all his sins?”) and ‘Sad Saviour’ seems to epitomise society’s all-too-prevalent ‘battered woman syndrome’ (“’Never, not ever again!’/is what you swore the last time this happened”).

‘Money (Let It Go)’ takes a stab at the cash-hungry – and those sugar daddies who are all too happy to provide it, and ‘This Is All Now’ vents against hypocritical religion (“could you imagine Christ hitting a child?/You live in a shelter built from your own truth”.)

Taking a step in from the bigger issues mentioned above, ‘It Doesn’t Feel A Thing Like Falling’ details a fraught relationship ("what exactly do you want from me?/who exactly did you want me to be?"), and ‘Since You’re Gone’ sulks about in the aftermath (“there's no one to take for granted now you're gone”), even though “he was there when you were lonely/he was there when you were bored/he was there when you were feeling scared/and you were not sure what for” (‘You Got Me’).

Taking Back Sunday never seek to be cerebral, but the song writing here will make you think and sing and hurt all the same – and that’s what makes this album really good. Taking Back Sunday is a kick-arse rock record, and needs to be turned up as loud as you can take it to get the full intensity of what it carries. It’s definitely worth the time. Give it a go.

Taking Back Sunday - Faith (When I Let You Down)

Written by Theo Sangster.