Dangerously disappointing, frighteningly formulaic

Originally hailing from San Diego, Grammy Award-winning rock band Switchfoot has enjoyed over two decades of chart-topping success. The quintet plays a brand of arena rock that’s both pensive and massive, with strong Christian influences, but their sound has been broad enough to win over plenty of secular fans as well. Bangers such as “Meant To Live” and “Stars” earned the band a lot of press in the early 2000s, and though they haven’t scored any crossover hits lately, they still have a fanbase wide enough to sustain a successful touring career. It’s been well over fifteen years since the group’s crossover breakthrough, but Switchfoot hasn’t slowed down at all. Now in 2019, they are ready to put out a brand new album, Native Tongue.

It’s pretty evident that Switchfoot has been listening intently to the modern rock radio trends because upon first listen, Native Tongue immediately showcases them. Gone is the layered guitar distortion; instead, the listener gets cleaner melodies, deadening reverb and duller drums, along with a more head-scratching sound that takes influence from a mixture of late ’60s melodic progressive acts like The Beatles and Beach Boys, as well as current popular ‘rock’ artists like Imagine Dragons. The lead single and title track is much more the latter, as it sounds exactly like an El Camino era Black Keys B-side.

“Voices” is a cheesy rip-off of Imagine Dragons, all the way from the comical gain on Jon Foreman’s vocal delivery to the programmed backing synth-drums. “All I Need” is slightly less offensive but continues the same frightening trend. Opening song “Let It Happen” is the most unique and retro-sounding song on there; unfortunately, the rest follow the same formula. Foreman’s beautiful lyrics are scrapped in favor of predictable cliches.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to diversify your sound as a band, but unfortunately, Switchfoot’s idea of stepping outside the box was to create an entire album based on all the most cookie-cutter musical trends seen in the rock world. It’s a disheartening effort from a band that’s always been so good at avoiding falling into the trap. It’s a sadly predictable, maddeningly unoriginal and disappointing effort from such a talented group. Hopefully, the band comes up with something better next time, or at the very least, let’s hope that whatever rock sound is popular is a good one so when they imitate it the product is enjoyable. What made Switchfoot such a great band was the way they made you think–and that thought-provoking side of them is totally gone on Native Tongue.