Slow Coming Day

Item: Farewell to the Familiar
Author: Tyler Baber

Farewell to the Familiar

(2003)

Reviewed by Tyler Baber

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Tooth & Nail RecordsDecapolisAugust 2003

alternative rock emo melodic rock post-hardcore

The "Chick Flick" genre of romantic comedies has a formula that I have never been able to understand as watchable. Flat characters are placed in barely realistic situations with results that serve only to perpetuate a false, albeit stereotypical, idea of how relationships should work and who answers to whom.

I've seen many a chick flick and left each one feeling the same. I realize that flighty, struggling independent woman Sandra Bullock is shown as reluctantly falling madly in love with the chauvinist with a heart of gold Richard Gere. But no matter how many times I see them break up and get back together "happily ever after" it is never portrayed in a way that draws me in, a way that makes me care. No matter how many other eyes leave the theater teary, no matter how many other hearts leave Blockbuster feeling strangely warmed, I just never see what all the fuss is about.

Farewell to the Familiar, the debut album from melodic rock band Slow Coming Day, is dripping with the sincerity and standards that fans of the genre love. The Tooth and Nail album is chock full of anthemic bridges, slow builds to rock and roll choruses, jangly guitar solos and someone beating the mess out of half of their drum kit. With the exception of three part harmonies, the Orange County four piece do all of the musical tricks that have never failed any of their predecessors. Musically it is set to stand up against any of the other thousand melodic rock debuts of 2003, no small accomplishment for a band that formed just as the genre was reemerging as the newest indie supertrend.

The lyrics, on the other hand, are a different story. Singer Orion Walsh draws from what were surely traumatic experiences in his past to write songs that are undoubtedly earnest. The poetic conventions of repetition, simile, and paradox are all put into use as Orion sings about the separation of his family, the death of his father, and more standard fare of dreams and love. Still, where the listener can tell that the singer has strong feelings tied into his words, the songs fail to draw the listener into the emotion.

Not unlike a Julia Roberts romantic comedy, Farewell to the Familiar is obviously full of characters feeling hurt, manipulated, hopeful and in love. Also not unlike the same Julia Roberts romantic comedy, Slow Coming Day's debut doesn't have the power to make the listener feel the same emotions the character is feeling. It is difficult to even sympathize with the characters.

Songs like "Family Ties" and "Pages Yet to Be Written" are saturated with honest lyrics that fail to sound original or, in some places, even heartfelt. Instead of a phrase repeated to become more powerful, these songs are basically the same thought repeated in different ways until they lose the power they could have had. The listener is not surprised when Orion sings "can't you see, this boy is me."

The album is not without exceptions to the lyrical lack of creative intensity. "The Room Without Walls" is a prime example of what Slow Coming Day could be if Walsh focused more on his abilities with anthem-styled choruses. The song is driving and memorable, and the lyrics and music play off each other better than anywhere else on the album.

Just as much of mainstream America doesn't think twice about shelling out $10 to see Gwyneth Paltrow's latest escapade with Luke Wilson, Slow Coming Day no doubt has an audience who feels deeply touched by the songs on Farewell to the Familiar. However, listeners who believe if you've heard one melodic rock album you've heard them all will not be proved wrong by Slow Coming Day.

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