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Release Date: December 26, 2006 Label: Sony Related Sites: · Official Site · E-card - "Oh! Gravity" Grade: B+

Familiar thematic territory is mined, though thankfully lead songwriter and vocalist Jon Foreman doesn't repeat favorite words and phrases as he's done in the past. Songs focus on politics and materialism, with introspective musings of a world beyond our own. Switchfoot has produced guitar-driven rock such as this in the past, but never with such vigorous urgency. Relying heavily on distorted guitars, the music often features a punk back beat by drummer Chad Butler that makes you want to jump out of your seat.

This is evident right off the bat with the fast-paced opener. This title track anthem wonders how we manage to contradict gravity with war and hatred abounding, asking the question, "Sons of my enemies, why can't we seem to keep it together?" The fiery "American Dream" tackles rampant consumerism head on, opening with the tongue-twisting line: “When success is equated with excess, the ambition for excess wrecks us." If materialism is the ultimately goal, Jon sings, "I want out of this machine/It doesn't feel like freedom/This ain't my American dream/I want to live and die for bigger things". It's probably the most direct lyrical track on the album, offering uncomfortable truths for the listeners to contemplate: "Is it true would you do what I want you to/If I show up with the ring amount of bling?/Like a puppet on a monetary string/Maybe we've been caught singing/Red, white, blue, and green".

The third track, and lead-off single, showcases the stylistic diversity of Switchfoot's evolving sound. "Dirty Second Hands" leads off with a dobro, evoking a folky, movie Western theme, before giving way to hand claps and the driving syncopation of heavy guitars. Things don't get quite as musically adventurous after this, though new wrinkles show up in the form of a harmonica on "4:12" and "Faust, Midas, And Myself", and horns, cello, and violin, particularly on the lush "Let Your Love Be Strong". Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek provide guest vocals and mandolin on "Circles", giving it a vaguely exotic feel. Oh, and contest-winner Sarah Mooridian won the honor to play cowbell on "Amateur Lovers".

When tunes settle down, things can get downright lovely. Jon co-wrote "Yesterdays" with his brother and fellow bandmate Tim, and it's an achingly beautiful meditation on the death of a loved one, pointing to a future beyond the grave as he sings, "until I'm with you, I'll carry on". The closer also features Jon's surprisingly subtle vocals, given the expansive screaming found elsewhere on the disc. "In this world of news, I've found nothing new, I've found nothing pure/Maybe I'm just idealistic to assume that truth could be fact and form, that love could be a verb/Maybe I'm just a little misinformed" begins this rumination of love as a battle worth fighting for, a topic also dealt with in the straight-forward pop-rock "Head Over Heels (In This Life)".

The brothers also co-wrote "Burn Out Bright", a brisk rocker that could embody the band's outlook that the future is yet unwritten, that "there's still fire in you yet" and "if we've only got one life, if time was never on our side, then before I die, I want to burn out bright". This sentiment is also echoed in the excellent "Faust, Midas, And Myself" with its repeated "you've one life, one life left to lead" and declaration, "What direction? Death or action! Life begins at the intersection." Finally, the stand-out track "Amateur Lovers" ("Everyone I know needs love like drug, like a common cold we could never shrug") uses head-bobbing rock to point out how much we long for love, but "we don't know what we're doing... let's do it again!"

Switchfoot has always strived to present spiritual questions in an accessible way, and Oh! Gravity is no exception. And so, you'll find no overt references, though Christian ideals are nonetheless communicated. Still, this method often leads to questions posed and problems pointed out, without solutions suggested or specific directions to follow for answers. On the one hand, it's admirable to allow to listener to think for themselves, yet on the other there can be a vast vacuum for the seeker to be pulled onto various contrary paths. So, while songs such as "Burn Out Bright" and "American Dream" are thematically reminiscent of The Beautiful Letdown's "This Is Your Life" and "Gone", respectively, they are still topics that resonate in our lives of today and bear repeating.

Oh! Gravity is presented with little pretense (except for, maybe, the fact that the track titled "4:12" ends abruptly at exactly four minutes and twelve seconds) and plenty of pep. Those who underappreciated Nothing Is Sound will find plenty to sink teeth into for this go-around (plus there won't be the unpleasantness of Sony's proprietary watchdog copy protection program blowing up your media player of choice). As a bonus, purchasers of the CD are provided with information on how to download an extra free song -- a fine acoustic number titled "Revenge".