Album Review :
Chase Tremaine - Unfall

To brush my bangs to the side, or not to, that is the question. For some, emo means The Jazz June, but for others, it means Hawthorne Heights … ad infinitum. While emo is a genre that is difficult to define, I would say that Chase Tremaine combines emo, indie, and pop—think Mae or Number One Gun. Unfall begins with “Matter,” which makes a good first impression with its wonderful guitar and a chorus that immediately gets stuck in your head. Throughout, Tremaine demonstrates his ability to structure songs, as made evident by “Humanizer” and “Unfallinlovewithable,” though I felt like certain tracks (e.g., “Lonely Saints”) could have been shortened. Lyrically, Unfall is a bit heterodox for emo, given the album’s theological substance. “Search for Myself” puts psychology on trial (“psychology seems helpful / but needing more is inevitable”), while “Counsel (The Help I Get)” ruminates over sin to the point where it’s cliché (“life of sin used as bait / to bring others into the hate”). Despite some misgivings, Unfall is a solid debut from a proficient multi-instrumentalist, and I would recommend adding a few songs to your 2005 silver MySpace player.