On September 27th, Credential Recordings/lowercase people and Atlantic Records will release Vice Verses, the eighth studio record from multi-platinum rock band Switchfoot. Working with producer Neal Avron (Weezer, Linkin Park), the band recorded most of the album in their San Diego, CA home studio. Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Regina Spektor) who pro
duced Switchfoot's GRAMMY-winning album, Hello Hurricane, served as executive producer. Released in 2009, Hello Hurricane entered The Billboard 200 at No. 13 and contained the Modern Rock hits "The Sound (John M. Perkins' Blues)" and "Mess of Me."
"Vice Verses is a record of tension and release. It's an attempt to describe the polarity of the human experience. The sunlight and shadow. The highs and lows, laughter and pain, hope and fear, doubts and belief," says lead
singer/guitarist Jon Foreman. In the title track, he writes, "...'Every blessing comes with a set of curses. I
got my vices. I got my vice verses.' So we live in the tension -- pulled and stretched thin. Vice Verses is soul music --attempting to get to the heart of the human experience: Living in the tension and turning it into song..."
Vice Verses is the work of a band that is so restless, they devote an entire song ("Restless") to the condition. It's that very uneasiness -- an unwillingness to choose the treadmill over the triathlon -- that fuels the band's forays into new musical territory and Jon Foreman's unflinchingly honest lyrics. You can hear the tension build along with the first chords of album opener "Afterlife," leading into a bold statement of intent: "...I've tasted fire I'm ready to come alive/I can't just shut it up and fake that I'm alright/I'm ready now/I'm not waiting for the afterlife....I believe we start forever now...."
Songs like "Afterlife" and "The War Inside" take the harder-edged approach of Hello Hurricane a step further, creating what Billboard has called "powerful, anthemic rockers...like an amalgamation of U2's 'Achtung Baby,' Linkin Park." Overall, Vice Verses is a more eclectic collection than its predecessor with quiet gems like "Souvenirs" and the title track next to the infectious "The Original," reminiscent of Foo Fighters, and the biting, largely spoken-word "Selling the News." The latter is a poetry slam Beck-meets-Beastie Boys style examination of a media-mad nation: "...America listens the story is told/the hard sell, all caps, all bold...begging the question mongering fears/stroking the eye and tickling ears/the truth ain't just what it appears/we're selling the news..."
Switchfoot Where I Belong Lyrics
Feeling like a refugee
Like it don't belong to me
The colors flash across the sky
This air feels strange to me
Feeling like a tragedy
Take a deep breath and close my eyes
One last time
Storms on the wasteland
Dark clouds on the plains again
We were born into the fight
But I'm not sentimental
This skin and bones is a rental
And no one makes it out alive
Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong
Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong
Feels like we're just waiting, waiting
While our hearts are just breaking, breaking
Feels like we're fighting against the tide
I wanna see the earth shaking
I wanna see a generation
Finally waking up inside
Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong
Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong
In a world where I belong
This body's not my own
This world is not my own
But I can still hear the sound
Of my heart beating out
So let's go boys, play it loud
On the final day I die
I want to hold my head up high
I want to tell you that I tried
To live it like a song
And when I reach the other side
I want to look you in the eye
And know that I've arrived
In a world where I belong
Where I belong
I still believe we can live forever
You and I we begin forever now
Forever now
Forever
I still believe in us together
You and I we're here together now
Together now
Together now
Forever now
Forever now
Forever
Just when I think all the best songs have been written...
Jon Foreman amazes me again and again with songs like this. Wow.
MiracleOfTheMoment 5 months ago 42
This should be the main song in the last battle movie when it comes out...it will close out the final scene. Thumbs up if you agree
SnowyLeopardStudios 5 months ago 32