Competent but not thrilling

There is something to be feared about the “alright” album. In some ways, it’s far more hurtful to have your record described as “okay” or “average” than it is to have it labeled “bad” or “incompetent.” There’s some truth to these feelings too. It’s often said that the antithesis of love does not hate, but indifference and this same adage holds about art. We all believe it too. Look around at the conversations being had about music. No one cares to discuss the okay album, the decent album, the 7/10. No, all we want to hear about is the best, the worst, the most disappointing. We need extremes to feel alive. Unfortunately, none of those extremes can be found on Gone to Color’s self-titled record.

To kick this all off with some compliments, though they risk being backhanded, there are things to like about this record. For one, it’s incredibly calming. In particular, tracks like “The 606” and “Illusions” manage to create interesting soundscapes that envelop the listener in a light haze of relaxation. The album is also very short, which certainly sounds like saying, “the album is not good, but at least it is short,” and that’s not at all what’s being said. The short album is a beautiful thing that is becoming ever scarcer in the world of streaming when streams can be artificially inflated by having a super long album that racks up tons of plays. With eight songs spanning just about 34 minutes, Gone to Color is a lovely exercise in brevity.

Now for the not-so-good. Nothing on the record really reaches out to grab the listener. It never piques one’s interest in either a positive or negative direction. There are times when it goes a little too slow, or it adds in a new sound. These are similar to National-esque instrumentation on “Dissolved” that pops up as interesting. But for the most part, the record floats by unobtrusively, and this applies to the lyrics as well. The lyrics are, again, not bad. However, in a world rife with new music to discover, halfway poetic lyrics like “this big old world is finally ours” from “Dissolved” or “What do you think of it?/ Only as it falls on you/ Take it as it comes” off of “Suicide” are simply not going to grab the audience by the shirt collar. Nothing really drags their attention away from whatever millions of things they are doing at any given moment. 

For as much as it is clearly striving to a higher level, Gone to Color simply never arrives there. It becomes, as Pink Floyd would put it, “Another brick in the wall.” It comes and goes, joining the nameless middle-class of albums that will disappear from popular consciousness, save for a precious few souls who truly connected with it. It’s a fine place to be, though not the most interesting.