Yellow Second – Altitude

Yellow Second – Altitude / 2005 Floodgate / 12 Tracks / http://www.yellowsecond.com / http://www.floodgaterecords.com / Reviewed 05 March 2005

Yellow Second plays an inoffensive brand of rock that never really points to any sort of genre designs, however much I want to lump them into “emo” music. This is probably due to the musical pedigree of the members of the band, taking kids from both The Rocket Summer and Five Iron Frenzy, which are pretty different if one thinks about it. The first three tracks go back fairly quickly without incident; the last of the three, “Forget What You’ve Heard”, seems to point to a more – Rivers Cuomo like type of vocals. While the instrumentation is solid on “Altitude”, the arrangement on the average track on the disc leaves something to be desired. It’s not as if the tracks are bad, but each one seems to lead into one another, leaving for an ennui-filled listener. “Plume” tries to use a little more urgent sense to the construction of music, but by and large the band slips into old habits and the track is only marginally better than the rest of the fare on “Altitude”.

“Some Other Way” marks another direction for the band, as we notice in this song a more strung-out feel to the band, almost moving to a Jazz-beat (the bassline on the track really allows for that interpretation). Moving into some interesting territory for “Gravity Boots”, Yellow Second’s incorporation of Halloween-ish sounding synthesizer to their on-again infatuation with Weezer makes for the first large stylistic shift on this disc. I really love everything that Five Iron Frenzy and The Rocket Summer came out with, but Yellow Second is an exemption from this formula. With flaccid tracks backed up with stagnant guitar solos and an anemia that is present throughout the tracks on “Altitude”, I wonder where the band has went so wrong.

Everything seems to be present on this disc for an enjoyable album; strong vocals, a cohesive band, and best of all, a solid hand behind the control board but “Altitude” just does not have that emotional spark that will drive the disc into the car players and boomboxes of today’s youth. Maybe it is a lack of spontaneity or just having their humanity pushed too far back behind their instruments, but this fundamental disconnect that plagues “Altitude” is something that has to be fixed before the band can take their place among the successes in today’s music. Give this band another chance when their next album comes out.

Top Tracks: Imaginary Friend, Gravity Boots

Rating: 4.8/10