Artist: Jonezetta
Album: Cruel To Be Young
Label: Tooth & Nail
Release Date: 9/16/2008
Review By: Tyler Hess
“Cruel To Be Young”, Jonezetta’s follow up to “Popularity”, has been a much discussed album around the webzines, as everyone seems to be unsure what to do with this album, but I am here to assure you of one thing: this is going to be way underrated. They had to know this. Having introduced themselves two years ago, they now mature their sound, slow down the tempo a bit, yet deliver great music, just without the poppy, catchy choruses that many of us grew fond of from their previous effort.
This is one album that is harder to dig out the singles, the songs that are sure to be hits, but has an overall greatness. There are some songs that are definitely ones that are a bit more memorable “Holding On To You”, “Busy Body” (the closest thing to Popularity, but not really that close), “Paint and Picture”, “Fur Coat” and “Valentine” peek my attention every time.
The disappoints are really the dead times for me. “Untitled” is hardly a song at all, it is a 36 second waste of time of instrumentation that is more like the times when I forget to unplug my guitar from my amp before I put it aside. The second problem is the hidden track at the end. Bands need to stop pretending that they are Nirvana, please kill this long overdue for a death of a trend.
The lyrics are stellar, if not vague. The vocals are sung beautifully to make me think the words are so cleverly crafted, but after many, many listens I still don’t know what in the world he is talking about most of the time, and it is sometimes hard to make something up just to make myself feel better about my lack of creativity.
In the end, there are just too many good songs on this album, too much of a cohesive, beautifully put together sound to let this slip by your hands. Take a listen, and then another, and then five more and I hope you hear what I hear, because they deserve it for their work.
9/10
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