Finding Peace: Blue October's Latest Album

Blue October

For a long time, I have been part of an online community that practically worships the work of Blue October - and with reason.  This band is genius.  However, I know many fans that were taken aback by their eighth studio album, "Home".  Why?  It's too happy!

It's no secret that singer-songwriter Justin Furstenfeld has a history of mental illness.  This struggle has oozed into the music, and the lyrics have often been tortured and angst-driven, the words often bit off and spat out with virulence, broaching a panorama of subjects like torture and murder fantasies.  Justin has often put so much of himself in his lyrics that his fans are often familiar with his personal struggles.  This culminated in "Any Man in America", an angry diatribe against his wife and custody case.  It was a little to much for the fans.  That album was followed by 2013's "Sway" which loosened its proverbial collar and veered into the direction of dance rock, but still had some of Justin's trademark weirdness.

So what's the deal with the new album?  One friend pointed out the primary single and radio hit - the title track "Home".  "I don't want to hear Justin singing about 'Daddy loves Momma' and 'dancing in the kitchen'!" said my friend.  "It's just not the Blue October that I'm used to.  What the hell has happened to Justin??"

Well, he got happy, apparently.  Give the guy a break!  Hasn't he suffered enough?  Obviously, he's in love again, and the songs are pleasantly sappy.  It's refreshing to see him happy.

That said, maybe there is method to the madness.  Although the songs are well-crafted and polished and palatable, none of them grab me as hard as anything on "Foiled".  The ferocity, the tenacity, the gritted-teeth passion that made me love Blue October is missing.

The opener, "Coal Makes Diamonds", is probably one of my favorite tracks with its piano intro and Justin's plaintive howls.  "Driver" could be a remake of "Sway", but they are both catchy songs, so it is forgivable.  "Heart Go Bang" is one of those sappy songs that I was mentioning.  It is incomparably hopeful, although the song is not that bad.  The dreamy background vocals at the end give it an added dimension.  "I Want It", the other single, is a fist-pumping anthem that could easily play at a self-help seminar.

The redeeming quality of this record is that the band veers off into dream pop for several songs, focusing on atmospherics and an ethereal quality that, of course, to me, is quite pleasing - songs like "We Know Where You Go" with its catchy bridge, "Break Ground", the sprawling "Time Changes Everything", and the shoegazey "The Still".  There are even some residues of aggression on songs in "The Lucky One" and the dissonant "Houston Heights".  Throw a couple of remixes, and you have a pretty good album.

These guys are all good musicians and songwriters.  They're not going to make a bad album.  However, this is probably one of my least favorite in their catalog.  The edge, the raw power of human emotion that was always prevalent in their music is gone.  But if it means peace for Justin - may they never recapture that.