Home > Denver Music > CD Review > Dashboard Confessional, "The Shade of Poison Trees"

Backstory: Apparently, even Dashboard Confessional mastermind Chris Carrabba wasn’t happy with his last DC record. After taking a more band-oriented, “rock” approach on last year’s “Dusk and Summer,” the master of emo has returned to his roots—writing simple, poppy, personal songs jammed out on an acoustic guitar.
 
Why you should care: Hello, 2002! You could argue “Shade” is a stylistic retreat, as it does little to expand the classic Dashboard Confessional sound. But there’s a vicious undercurrent here (sample lyric: “where there’s gold, there’s gold diggers”) that’s more prominent than usual on a DC record, and Carrabba seems most comfortable pointing fingers when he’s keeping the music simple. And, boy, do these choruses fly. “Keep Watch for the Mines” and the chiming “Fever Dreams” are destined to become the latest in a line of DC singalongs.
 
Verdict: There are a million sensitive dudes with acoustic guitars, and most of them are awful. But don’t lump in Carrabba with that group—he mixes the passion and energy of his punk roots with a keen sense of melody and an open-book policy on his feelings. It’s an emotional honesty that’s rare in rock music—and it’s catchy as hell.
 
X-Factor: “Shade” took only 10 days to record.