CD Review – Secondhand Serenade
Hear Me Now
Secondhand Serenade. the brainchild of lead singer/songwriter/guitarist John Vesely, made waves a couple of years ago with their hit “Fall For You.” Now they are back with their whiny heart-on-sleeve pop which only forlorn teenage girls will be clamoring over. Dashboard Confessional had this market cornered, but since Chris Carraba hasn’t issued an album in several years, Vesely has filled the void with essentially the exact same thing, but not as good. His voice is still a high-pitched whine coupled with radio-friendly music that follows the verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus with hardly any variation.
I have to be honest, at least he’s putting himself out there lyrically when he emotes the title of the track “Is anybody out there?” About halfway through the album, though, his voice starts grating and the songs start sounding really similar and like he needs to grow a pair. At some point, you have to pick yourself up and be a man. By the end of the album, I was ready to reach through my iPod and punch him in the face and tell him to stop writing lines like “I’m waiting for you to call me/ Can’t you see I’m lonely?” (Cue the gagging.) In a nutshell, if you are a tweenage or teenage girl, this is perfect for you. For everybody else, don’t bother.
