‘Lift A Sail’ is Yellowcard’s first album for new label Razor & Tie and their first without long time drummer Longineu Parsons. However the biggest change they’ve made is a musical one, frontman Ryan Key proudly stating that “We really feel like we got where we wanted to be, and made a proper rock ‘n’ roll record,”. It’s to be expected then that the resulting album is bolder than anything they have released pre or post hiatus.
The record actually gets off to a subtle start, with the orchestral introduction of ‘Convocation’ highlighting the violin for which the band have become famous for. The first real demonstration of the direction Yellowcard have chosen to take comes with the confident and expansive approach employed on ‘Transmission Home’. ‘Crash The Gates’ further reaffirms their new found desire for this record to outdo everything that they have done before by virtue of harder drums and guitars and even bigger choruses.
However, Yellowcard have never been averse to penning ballads in the past and they continue to do so on ‘Lift A Sail’. ‘One Bedroom’ initially sounds like a fairly typical addition to the genre until the guitar crashes in, providing a welcome dose of emotion into an otherwise fairly flat song and transforming it into something energetic and uplifting.
Plenty of bands have attempted to transition to a more mature sound during their careers and with ‘Lift A Sail’, Yellowcard have almost succeeded. Whilst ‘Make Me So’ is much more reminiscent of their previous albums, the likes of ‘Illuminate’ and ‘My Mountain’ are the best examples of a successful crossover in style as pace and melody are used on a grander scale than previously done so. The latter in particular sounds huge and utilises a solid riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Foo Fighters album.
Yellowcard have, overall, produced a very good album. Ryan’s vocals are as reliably strong as ever which help to deliver the anthemic lyrics on offer, the call of “With the last sail lifted high, I am ready now” on ‘Lift A Sail’ being a highlight. However for all the promise and ambition on display, there are moments of frustration. There may be plenty of ideas at play here, but a fair few come across as half baked and underdeveloped. The direction-less ‘Madrid’ for example, sits awkwardly between extended interlude and fully realised song and elsewhere their sacrifice of immediacy for over-worked ambition falls equally flat.
‘Lift A Sail’ represents a new chapter for Yellowcard and is the sound of a band re-discovering themselves but there are times when it fails to convince. In their attempt to move forward, they have jettisoned some of their more memorable traits, ‘MSK’ and ‘Fragile And Dear’ being amongst the handful of moments where the violin is truly centre of attention. A line up change or new musical direction doesn’t always spell disaster for a band but equally it is not often without difficulties. How far down the road of straight up rock albums Yellowcard go and the reaction they will get remains to be seen, but hopefully next time they can find a way to fully match the heights of their new found ambition.
CHRIS HILSON