I was finally able to listen to the complete Switchfoot album, Nothing Is Sound (NIS), by pre-ordering via Amazon. The quality is only 64K but is good enough for me to get the vibe. I can only listen to it when I'm on a computer so I haven't gotten the car CD or iPod effect yet.

So, full disclosure, I am friendly with 4 of the members of Switchfoot and am good friends with one of their relatives. I happen to be a big fan of this band but will temper the personal to take an honest look at the new album.

Switchfoot's last album, The Beautiful Letdown (TBL), came out over two-and-a-half years ago so it's long overdue for the new album. The latest was written and many parts were recorded on the many TBL tours. It seems to not be far departure from TBL but more of a continuation of the same themes. Just as TBL, NIS cannot be classified as a rock, alternative, mellow, pop, Christian, etc. or any other type of label. It's just Switchfoot doing what they do best; lots of guitars (they even added another guitarist, Drew Shirley), lots of catchy songs and a ton of thoughtful lyrics.

I'm sure many of you have already heard the first single called Stars, which is one of the more guitar driven tunes, but there are two others that are far stronger and would have been a better choice for the first single. Unlike Stars, these other tunes (Lonely Nation and Politicians) don't mellow out for the vocals then get harder for the guitar parts. Stars is more of a pop-rock song and seems to be struggling to get airplay on the local alternative stations. I think it will be more popular on more top-40 type stations.

The centerpiece of the album is called Happy Is A Yuppie Word; song title inspired from an old Bob Dylan interview. I've heard the song a few times in concert and it didn't really reach me until I heard it in May. It was a benefit concert (read more about it here) and the song really kicked my butt. Yuppie has a bit of a down-and-dirty bluesy feel to it and has a very memorable chorus. The Nothing Is Sound title is contained in this song and when Jon Foreman is screaming these words near the end of the song you just want to scream with him.