The Summer Set - Love Like This Review
Posted by Vanessa Willoughby on 10.24.2009
Hailing from Scottsdale, Arizona, The Summer Set consists of brothers Stephen (bass) and John Gomez (guitar), in addition to Josh Montgomery (guitar), Brian Dales (vocals), and Jess Bowen (drums). Their mission: to inject a sense of optimism back into the music scene. But is this power-pop band a feel-good relief or too much of a toothache to handle?
TRACK LISTING:
1. The Boys You Do (Get Back At You)
2. Punch-Drunk Love
3. Chelsea
4. Young
5. Take It Slow
6. Can You Find Me?
7. Love Like This
8. Girls Freak Me Out
9. Passenger Seat
10. This Is How We Live
11. Where Are You Now
Hailing from Scottsdale, Arizona, The Summer Set consists of brothers Stephen (bass) and John Gomez (guitar), in addition to Josh Montgomery (guitar), Brian Dales (vocals), and Jess Bowen (drums). Formed in high school, the band had self-released their first two EPs before they’d even received their diplomas. Driven by music at a considerably young age, the two brothers found inspiration from bands such as Jimmy Eat World and The Format. Interestingly enough, The Summer Set cites their musical ambitions as the need to re-inject a sense of fun into the music scene. Bowen said, “We sat down the very first day we started our band and realized that there was a lot of negativity in the music scene, which was depressing. We just wanted to bring a positive vibe.”
Certainly, Love Like This, the band’s first full-length album, is never short on a buoyant peppiness that conjures hazy summer days and carefree, puppy love. The entire album is purposefully constructed around the band’s vision of fun, spunky, power-pop that highlights the angst of adolescence without wallowing in the melodrama. However, despite The Summer Set’s admirable intentions, it narrows the potential of the album, often coming across as over-saturated pop for the easily-impressionable masses. It’s not a question of whether or not the album is shallow or that the band lacks talent. Rather, the “fun factor” of Love Like This is so dominate that puts the album in danger of being completely forgettable.
The first track, “The Boys You Do (Get Back At You),” is just as snappy as its title. An upbeat anthem of male revenge, Dales rallies against a trash-talking ex-girlfriend, vowing to “go to sleep with all your friends.” Despite the peppy intonation of the vocals and the infectiously cheerful guitar arrangement, the opening track is a successful balance of resentment and vengeance. After nearly three minutes of Dales’ scheming, “The Boys You Do” transitions into “Punch-Drunk Love.”
A noticeable switch from the spiteful vendetta of the first track, “Punch-Drunk Love” relies on uninspired metaphors to articulate new found attraction.
“Funny, cute, and kissable
I found a girl that makes me lose control
Every night’s like the first night
Never getting old
Passed out on her bathroom floor
Still drunk from the night before
But when this party ends
Wake up and do it again”
Granted, there are a slew of other pop songs that can be charged with implementing far less creative or even coherent lyrics, but this is a case where the combination of the saccharine nature of the music and the lyrics is devastatingly distracting. Without a doubt, the song is catchy, but it gives room to wonder if this due to the song’s formula or actual composition.
“Chelsea,” the third track, is also the album’s leading single. The song was inspired by actress Chelsea Staub, who has appeared on the Disney Channel show Jonas. Dales was introduced to Staub and automatically fell head over heels. Fortunately, the song not only won over fans, but the girl in question. True to the breezy exuberance of the album, “Chelsea” is powered by starry-eyed infatuation without the tortured longing. Dales sings,
“I wrote her a song
Not Delilah, not Kelsey
Got them both in my palm
But I’d drop them for Chelsea
Hey, hey what'd you say
You’ve been looking good today
Lets go around town and tell those girls that I'm taken
Chelsea, Chelsea
Tell me you love me
Chelsea, Chelsea
Are you feeling me now?”
Ah, to be young and in love.
The proceeding track, “Young,” is an ode to youth. Unlike a song like “Punch-Drunk Love,” the sound is much more akin to fellow pop-rock peers, Boys Like Girls, rather than the bubble-gum predictability of say…the Jonas Brothers. Opening with the steady thump of the bass and driven mainly by the drums, the level of exhilaration in the song is appropriately tolerable, even uplifting. As reflected in the title of the song, although youth can be much more like a roller coaster than a stroll through the countryside, there’s something almost comforting in the chaos. Granted, the band utilizes the age-old “Romeo and Juliet” metaphor, but overall, the song is 3 minutes and 20 seconds of unabashed fun.
Recalling the band’s admiration of Jimmy Eat World, the fifth song, “Take It Slow,” can be viewed as a response to “The Middle.” Employing arrangements that utilize more of a rock-based sound, Dales advises:
“Wrapped up in her head
She’s coming clean again
In a new suitcase
Is her only way out
A love like this
Shouldn’t be so complicated
I’m spinning out, I’m jaded
Remember how you said
You wanted out
There’s nothing new to talk about…
You’re doing fine
If you just get over this
It takes time
And realize
Your life’s just what you make of it”
Although perhaps not as heavy of reliance on the guitar as “The Middle,” the optimism of both the song and Dales’ voice makes the track one that’s worth repeating.
“Can You Find Me?” is probably one of the few slower songs on Love Like This, which describes the loneliness of city-living. Naturally, there’s the obligatory mention of soul-searching and the illuminated tips of slow-burning cigarettes. The electronic-back beats give an odd vibe to the song, making it reminiscent of a 90s boy band, rather than the spunky pop of the previous songs. It’s quite the mood-shift from “Take It Slow.”
Track seven, “Love Like This,” is (thankfully) a return to the style established by tracks one through five. In addition to a return to the familiar, the song attempts to introduce an unprecedented level of tongue-in-cheek snark that’s usually seen in a band like 3OH!3. Does it work? Considering the fluff of “Can You Find Me?” the cheekiness of “Love Like This” is surprisingly refreshing. Dales confesses:
“I’ve got the keys
To a real fast car
And you’re a real fast girl
I want a love like this
Won’t you show me
A love like that
They say that love’s a bitch
Read my lips
I’ve waited all my life
For a bitch like this”
Track eight, “Girls Freak Me Out,” and track nine, “Passenger Seat,” are both examples of the band’s dedication to creating feel-good pop music that draws upon the highs and lows of youth and the idyllic romanticism of youth.
“This Is How We Live,” doesn’t stray from the overall style of The Summer Set, drawing up comparisons to bands like The Starting Line.
The final track, a mellow ballad called “Where Are You Now,” features Dia Frampton from Meg and Dia. The vocal dialogue between Frampton and Dales works quite well, creating a complimentary relationship that establishes an almost dreamy atmosphere and tone of the overall song.
The 411: The Summer Set is a band that doesn't have any delusions about what it's hoping to create: fun, catchy, frothy, pop music. Some people may complain that this is cause to label Love Like This another product of easily forgettable ear candy for the teen masses. However, the genre shouldn't necessarily be cause for dismissal. Love Like This does have it's clunkers, as well as its successes. If you're in need of feel-good music, The Summer Set provides an instantaneous solution.
