Craig's Brother

Lost at Sea (2001)

pokinatcha

Before you punks start your bitching about how un-punk and "Christian" this band is and how incredibly dumb it is for me to review it after an appropriate review has already been written, let me say that this is one great album that I can't get enough. This album, Lost at Sea, is Craig's Brother's second and last album on Tooth & Nail. The band has never claimed to be a "Christian" band, but a band with Christians in it. Since their first release (another goodie), Homecoming, all that has changed. The two Christian members have since departed before this record was recorded, and formed their own band, Too Bad Eugene, on MxPx's label, Rock City Recordings. After the release of this album, Tooth & Nail dropped Craig's Brother. With that said, I hope you can give this amazingly talented band a more open-minded look.

The album begins with an absolutely beautiful song, titled "Glory", which is an honest nightmare of war. The guitars are harmonized wonderfully, and combine magically with Ted's voice. For some innovation, they even have a boys choir sing the bridge, "Little Boys Go Marching On For Peace". The next track, "Masonic", was written by the new guitar player, and portrays well the despondency of a breakup, with lines like, "OK, so far I'm not impressed / When does it get good and how much time is left? / No way, she can't end up with him / Did the hero die? / Don't the good guys win?". It's a truly great song that leads well into the serenely lovely, "Lullaby". Though the song portrays a feeling of hopelessness and loss of hope, comforted by slumber, it's poetically written, and the arrangements are very tight. The next song, "Divorce", deals with that very issue. The feelings that one would go through, I?d assume, in the situation presented are incredibly written into lyrics that are again at a high standard. Over the next few tracks, the band slows the pace down from their already mellow mood. "Head in a Cloud" is another well written song, that reveals the weakness in someone's ideology and the mistakes one encounters in success and friendships lost. Again for artistic purposes, Craig's throws in a string orchestra for the 6th track, "Back and Forth", a song about blind faith. The next to tracks are the few that deal with a significant other. "Falling Out" deals with being dragged down by, I'd assume, a woman (always the case), while "Set Free" deals with letting go, moving on, and getting over, essentially setting free, perhaps an ex that he's failed. The one politically driven song on the album, "Prince of America", doesn't fail to live up to the quality of the other tracks. It's a rather deep song, with a lot of political suggestions, along with references to injustice and to the people in Kosovo, combined with great guitar riffs and great, I mean absolutely wonderfully written, arrangements. The 10th and final track, more like epic, "Lost at Sea" brings the album to a climatic close. This, in my humble opinion, is the best song on the record, and that says something. I like songs that tell a story and have poetic visual images that they put in your head, and this track does that better than any other, showing off the incredible writing ability of this band. The song sings of a dude lost at sea, tossed by waves, all alone and abandoned, while on the beach, a girl calls his name desperately for him. The song could be interpreted with many representations and settle imagery and affluence to society.

I really can't get across how much I love this record. For me, it's one of those that you put on and don't skip any the songs, listening to it straight through. For some of you narrow-minded fools, who won't give this band a chance, at least give a song or two a download and decide for yourself. I have trouble classifying the band as a specific sound, as that would limit their artistry. The album is relatively slow, and could be given that dreaded "pop-punk" label. The band is hardly hardcore, and perhaps has some emo influence, but I?d say they're more melodical than anything. The thing I love most is the song writing. They confront issues that matter and portray them well in words, instead of the run-of-the-mill girl songs we've all grown accustomed to. The production is well done, and the guitars are synchronized and arranged very well. I recommend this album to anyone. Craig's Brother has grown to be one of my favorites and has nearly a permanent space in my CD player.