Secondhand Serenade
Here Me Now
2/10

When I hit play on the album’s opener “Distance” and listened to the first 5 seconds, I must admit I had an excited moment because it reminded me of how a Dashboard Confessional album would start; guitar strumming with light piano. But then John Vesely starts singing his awful lyrics about driving down a dark highway alone. Umm…haven’t we heard this line about 157 times in the past year? He even sings about “driving alone” in “Only Hope” again. Yeah, we get it. Musically, it’s like they’re trying to be epic, but the string section, guitar effects, and attempt to make the drums sound big is bring it all down. What happen to the simplicity heard in A Twist In My Story? It was effective and worked. Maybe this will work for the high school girls. 2 out of 10 for the hope I still have in this band.

- Kelia Iha