June, Make It Blur

Don’t you just hate Fallout Boy? The way they prance around like they started a scene or something. Their overproduced music, their annoying fan base, their god-awful music videos. Fallout Boy is the sad product of dying trends and a mix-up of poorly-made emo slop. They’re just another record company marketing ploy and not in the least bit entertaining or indie, like they try and pretend to be, right?

Strip all of that nonsense away, and you get June. The casual listener may write them off as a Fallout Boy rip-off, but upon further listening, June shows much more maturity and depth. They take the All American Rejects/Fallout Boy/Panic at the Disco sound and they do it in the proper way, without all the fancy colors and pouting. Enough with the comparisons, though.

Make It Blur drives along with a “lover-not-a-fighter” sensibility. Weezer-esque guitar riffs push AJ’s (yes, his name is really AJ) and Tim’s vocals along well enough, and June only has good things to tell us, however cynical they might come across as being. They tell us in “Machine and the Line” that, “While you sit there and disagree / We are moving ahead. / We are moving beyond this machine. / We’re moving ahead. / Build a world inside your head, try to make it what it can’t be. / The silver lining is now dark red.” The rest of the album is similar in its side-by-side cynicism and optimism. “Bittersweet” is a good word to describe it.

“Tempter” is a standout on the album, as is “Closer,” their most AAR-like song. Both songs make me want to find a girlfriend and fuck it all up again. The only track I found lacking was “Swallowed,” which isn’t a cover of the Bush song, although that would have been pretty cool. Instead, it’s got the repetitive chorus of “If you could, would you?” slowed down, then sped up, then slowed back down again. This means it’s perfectly ready for radio airplay. The only redeeming quality to the song is the bridge, the best part of all of June’s tunes.

Make It Blur chunks along naively telling us how everything’s going to be okay, although maybe it’s not, and then it ends with a hidden track (remember those?). It’s the only acoustic song on the album, with a prominent drum beat and tender lyrics. The harmonies blend together in a way that would make any drunk cry after an eventless night at the bars.

It’s a surprising release from Victory Records, those responsible for hardcore staples Hatebreed and Ringworm. They’re also responsible, however, for Hawthorne Heights and Taking Back Sunday, so maybe it’s not so surprising. I just don’t see any tattoos on any of the guys in June.

And thankfully, the band doesn’t thank Pete Wentz anywhere in their liner notes, I checked.