On the band’s fourth studio album, Dusk and Summer, Dashboard Confessional continued to turn up the volume, adding even more layers of big guitars and epic grandiosity to what had previously been mostly acoustic territory. Suffering from a lack of texture and variety, Dusk and Summer feels a bit homogenous as you work your way through the entire collection, but a number of standout songs spice things up. The title track is a real beauty, likely a candidate for many a love-struck victim trying to hang on to what was, and another more subtle track, “Stolen,” features a breathless Chris Carrabba confessing, “you have stolen my heart,” bobbing and floating on a fragile current of guitar and drums. Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz provides a nice counterbalance to Carrabba’s vocals on the sweet piano ballad, “So Long, So Long,” and “Slow Decay” takes the pure rock esthetic that opens the collection on “Don’t Wait” (the album’s first single) and takes it a level higher, with dark lyrics and Carrabba’s trademark soaring vocals propelled by some true screamo energy. “Heaven Here,” especially, has arena-rock sincerity coursing through its pulsating, fist-pumping veins, as do a few other tracks of lesser note.
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