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Halifax

The Inevitablility of a Strange World

(Drive-Thru Records; US: 23 May 2006; UK: Available as import)

The Inevitability of an Unoriginal Album

It was bound to happen, some day or another.  And the time has come.  Halifax gets the honor: An album that is entirely 100% unoriginal.  Literally.  I’ve listened to this album end-to-end twice, hoping to find an original lyric, unique chord change, but to no avail.  You know that generic song that comes to mind when you hear the term “emo-rock”?  Well if you can imagine that, then you’ve already heard their entire debut album.  Sometimes Drive-Thru Records is willing to go a wee bit risky, releasing emotional piano punk (Something Corporate) or techno-pop-rock (HelloGoodbye), but here has released the most uninteresting rock album in recent memory.  Single “Our Revolution” barely stands out above the rest, making perfect background music for some forthcoming Twisted Metal release, but The Inevitability of a Strange World has nothing to offer.  Even the pseudo-ballads like “A Tint of Rain” and “Murder I Wrote” follow cliche painfully close.  Never before in my years of being a music critic have I walked away from an album with not a single track to recommend.  Congratulations Halifax: you’re the first.

Rating:

Evan Sawdey began contributing to PopMatters in late 2005 after contributing for years to his college newspaper The Knox Student. Evan became the Associate Interviews Editor for PopMatters in the summer of 2008, and then the full Interviews Editor a year after that. Since joining, Evan's work has been quoted/featured in a wide array of publications including SLUG Magazine, The Metro (U.K.), the Gulf Times, Soundvenue Magazine (Denmark), and multiple national newspapers. Evan has been a guest on WNYC's Soundcheck (an NPR affiliate), was the Executive Producer for the Good With Words: A Tribute to Benjamin Durdle album (available for free at GoodWithWordsAlbum.com), and wrote the liner notes for the 2011 re-release of Andre Cymone's hit 1985 album A.C. (Big Break Records) and the 2012 re-releases of the JoBoxers' 1983 debut album Like Gangbusters, 'Til Tuesday's 1985 debut Voices Carry, and Plastic Bertrand's 1978 album AN 1 (all Hot Shot Records). He is a current member of The Recording Academy and resides in Chicago, Illinois. You can follow him @SawdEye should you be so inclined.


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