Silverstein – Still Dreaming

• 9th May 2008

The prospect of choosing a single from an album is a difficult one, it has to have some basis-it can’t be completely random-but what criteria has to be met? Is it the most diverse piece of music? Illustrating the amount of movement and evolution your music has taken? Or maybe a song part of a grander picture-the opener to a large idea? Or simply ‘the fast one’?

With the single ‘Still dreaming’ from the album ‘Arrivals & departures’ Silverstein exhibit a willingness to incorporate the ideas and new growth from previous albums, alongside simply producing a strong song.

Its unfortunate then that their attempts fail, and fall somewhere between a checklist of items required to be a good tune and, at worst a regression in their ideas.

At one point Shane Told screams, in a altogether emo style and it appears completely misplaced, as though they are saying- look we haven’t forgot where we came from, and it simply doesn’t wash.

That’s not the real tragedy here, this song doesn’t really work as an example of Silvertsien, and it may be the first introduction most will have-the real crime is there are better songs to showcase them and the album- ‘Sound of the sun’ is altogether more brash and structured and should be the immediate follow up.

What ‘Still dreaming’ ultimately proves is every choice you make with your material counts-music has no room for complacency.

Mark Cooper.