Holland

Item: Photographs & Tidalwaves
Author: Tyler Baber

Photographs & Tidalwaves

(2003)

Reviewed by Tyler Baber

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Spotify

Label Tooth & Nail RecordsDecapolisApril 2003

emo modern rock pop rock

"The bottom line for us is that we don't want to be stereotyped and called one thing or another," these are the words of Josiah Holland, bassist of Tooth and Nail's Holland whose debut album is Photographs & Tidalwaves. You may have read those words and thought you heard them spoken by another musician or band. It seems while critics and fans throw around catchy and meaningless genre names, bands throw around cliché statements of individualism and talk about how all they want to do is "make good music." Ironic, huh?

It gets even more ironic when you realize that most of the bands throwing around such statements are the bands that are easiest to label. Holland can easily be compared to modern radio rock acts such as Jimmy Eat World, Q and not U, and Twothirtyeight. These comparisons do not necessarily reflect badly on the band, depending on what you think of the aforementioned bands. However, while each of the latter groups have made a name for themselves with distinct vocals or being one of the firsts to have their sound, Holland does not have that luxury. The desire to be established as a unique identity separate from the world of musical classification will prove ill-founded for Holland, as they are at heart a pop-rock band.

Holland's music is relatively toned down, any songs with heavier parts are still not played loudly. There are anthemic fight songs and peppy hooks and choruses, feedback leading into distorted power chords, and the occasional "stop" followed by a beat or two of snare before the guitars pick up again. Holland unenergetically moves through typical fare ranging from pop rocky "I'm Not Backing Down" to the more mellow tracks that attempt to showcase the band's poetic style but end up seeming vastly unoriginal ("Goodnight Texas," "Call it a Day").

Will Holland's vocals sound as if they are meant for radio airplay, and Holland definitely has potential as one of those bands that will be frequently featured on compilations and Christian festivals. Unfortunately, Photographs & Tidalwaves lacks the ability to help Holland realize their dream of establishing themselves apart from stereotypes and meaningless genre classifications. This is radio rock that will be enjoyed only by those who aren't familiar with the best that radio rock has to offer.

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