Vagabonds (by The Classic Crime)

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Artist: The Classic Crime
Album: Vagabonds
Label: Tooth & Nail
To Be Released: April 6, 2010

Review

Spring is finally here and so is Vagabonds, the third full length album by The Classic Crime. The band once again invested a lot of hard work to make Vagabonds a complete project, by making sure that every song on the album counts.
What differs most Vagabonds from previous albums is the attitude that the album presents. The band is a lot more relaxed both musically and lyrically. The heavy topics are only part of a couple of songs – and although the there’s still a lot of spiritual content present, its’ definitely not as “on your face” as it was on The Silver Cord. Matt put aside his “life and death” metaphors and picked up a little of happiness, joy and life making the record a lot more approachable. The music also reflects most of these changes, keeping the sound simple and not overproduced. The band experimented quite a bit with playing fast chords. Sometimes it even seems that some songs are being fast forwarded (e.g.. “Different Now” and “Four Chords”). Overall the album is very well balanced keeping a happy mood throughout without losing meaning. “My Name” (which was actually written when the band was recording The Silver Cord), “Count”, “Everything & Nothing” still hold a lot of spiritual significance, reflecting back to the likes of The Silver Cord. Even though Matt sings about a wide range of topics the overall feeling you get from the album is that the band has finally come to terms with themselves. They know where they are going, they feel that they have reached a place where they can glance back on the past few years and move forward, full of hope and joy.

If there’s one thing that was a let down on The Silver Cord (released in 2008) was the lack of *bridges. Though the album was fantastic it really seemed like something was missing towards the end of several songs. Thankfully on Vagabonds that has changed. The songs have a completion both lyrically and musically. Songs like “The Happy Nihilist”, “Solar Powered Life” and “Broken Mess” stretch Matt’s vocals to the max. They won’t leave you hanging.

The last two songs on Vagabonds are my favorites. “Different Now” is a honest song about relationships taking a look not only at good times but also at the hard times. It sounds different from anything the band has ever played. “Broken Mess” is a rather personal and tragic story about a broken relationship where ultimate forgiveness and mercy play a key role. As Matt explains “it’s my response to a pretty dramatic situation that happened to him [his brother.]” It’s incredibly hard to find lyrics like the one on this song out there. It’s incredibly hard to find people singing about forgiveness, especially when it comes to unfaithfulness. The only song that doesn’t stand out too much on the album is “The Count”. It sounds too similar to songs on The Silver Cord or even on Albatross. It just seems to be misplaced.

Vagabonds is a complete album from start to finish. The recording is excellent, the lyrics are cheerful and meaningful. Matt’s voice is clear and you will be singing along with him before you know it. It will be hard, really hard for the The Classic Crime to record something as good as Vagabonds again.

* You know, that part of the song that it’s not the chorus and it’s a verse.

*Vagabonds (by The Classic Crime) was added on February 9th, 2010

Reviewed by Dan
Daniel is a music lover, a designer and web developer. He current resides in Philly, but he is always on the move.