If Black Lungs were not made up of Wade from Alexisonfire I doubt too many people would be interested in ‘Send Flowers’. Described as ‘folk punk’ it’s more a rock-influenced record with a few ‘other’ influences. There’s a bit of Johnny Cash, a bit of Springsteen maybe. A bit of AFI and the bands which influence them too perhaps. But there’s also a lack of consistency which makes ‘Send Flowers’ a very difficult listen.
For every ‘Fire and Brimstone’ there’s a track which plods on with all the borrowed influences in the world (‘So It Goes’). The production sounds fashionably tinny, as if the raw, loose style was caught by accident. In truth it’s probably deliberate. Wade’s vocals don’t stand out as Dallas Green’s do and while City and Color and Black Lungs sound totally different in terms of genre, C&C are by far the better band.
That said, there are a couple of highlights here. ‘For Her’ has the kind of soaring chorus so many of the songs here lack. It’s almost The Gaslight Anthem-esque with the piano and the way the vocal melody takes control of the song. But the problem is the band fail to hit those high points with any consistency and therein lies their downfall. Nine songs here and four, maybe five, are worth repeat listens.
Patrick Stump once told me that if you start a side project it’s merely masking the fact your ‘main’ band isn’t doing it for you anymore. With some of the comments coming out of camp AOF in recent weeks, I hope they can get their shit together and stop the side projects. ‘Cos this just ain’t that hot…