My review of "Ursa Major"

Ok, I promise this is the last post about Thrd Eye Blind for a while. Seriously. I promise.



Plenty of bands can do good songs about lost love. Plenty of bands can sing well about unrequited love. But I wonder if anyone can do songs about fleeting love - the kind that seems perfect if only for the briefest of moments - as well as Third Eye Blind.

Fans of the band are well-aware of that kind of sentiment. It seems like all 3EB's best songs are about a moment, now past, where everything was perfect. This kind of love is always impossible to hold on to (and frequently Jenkin's lyrics express sadness at being unable to get back to how it used to be), yet also impossible to forget

For their fourth studio album, Third Eye Blind goes right back to what works best for them, right from the opening lines of the first track ("All I want right now is the time when we slept on the floor"), the extremely-catchy "Can You Take Me". The theme continues through the entire album, and whether all the songs are directed towards the same person (like on "Out of the Vein") or a series of crushes and singular moments, it doesn't really matter.

The feeling is most powerfully expressed in "Bonfire", which tells of a one night chance encounter between two people while sitting around (surprise, surprise) a bonfire and getting high. Jenkins wonders about the possibilities this could hold for the future ("we could live like kings, if we take a risk, or we could live in doubt"), but things don't seem to work out in the end. Even after the night ends, Jenkins says he will "keep burning on and on", for the love that might have been. The twangy guitar in the beginning does a great job of setting the scene and the whistling at the end is both sad and haunting. It's my favorite song on the album, but there is plenty of competition.

The next track, "A Sharp Knife", is the most bitter song on the album, but also contains some of the best lyrics. Jenkins sings at the end of the second verse: "I think there's a reason, at least there's a sign. And all that we call chaos, I'll say it's by design, but I'm just lying". The guitar work throughout the song does an excellent job of contrasting the introspection during the verses and the obvious anger in the chorus.

The end of the album is noticeably quieter and more introspective than the first few songs -- going back to the tradition they established on their first two albums. While the conclusion of this album might not quite stack up to the final four tracks on their self-titled debut ("I Want You", "The Background", "Motorcycle Drive-by", and "God of Wine"), the trifecta of "Water Landing", "The Dao of Saint Paul", and "Monotov's Private Opera" comes pretty close. The first of those three is about the last moments before a plane crashes, as a metaphor for the uselessness of "chasing after you". There's three very distinct parts of the song -- all quite different from one another -- but the music and lyrics in all three parts are fantastic, and the end of the song will get stuck in your head for sure. Both "Saint Paul" and "Monotov" lack a real defining moment that you won't be able to forget, but they are very well done even if it takes a few listens to really get into them.

I do have a few minor complaints though. The band said numerous times that this album was going to be more political than their previous releases, and they certainly did follow through. While "Don't Believe A Word" was written as an attack on the last President ("I hate you and your cowboy boots" are among the many anti-Bush references in the song), its about eight months too late for that. Still, it's a catchy tune, but the lyrics sound kind of forced at times, which is not good for a band that has found a way to make all kinds of odd lines fit smoothly. Also, it shouldn't have been the first single; that honor should have gone to either "Summer Town" or "Can You Take Me". Third Eye Blind should probably stop trying to write protest songs, because the other overtly political song on the album is "About to Break", which is easily the most ignorable track.

Some other random thoughts:

- "Summer Town" is the obvious heir to the well known "Semi-Charmed Life" and "Never Let You Go", with the mix of fun lyrics about a summer house at the beach and the hook-driven sound. Jenkins busts out his unique combo of rock and rap on the track as well; he references the "5 5 5 deal", M.I.A ("wanna be a hustla...make a paper plane and fly away"), and Nabokov (one of the "dead Russian authors" from "Narcolepsy", perhaps?), all while chasing after "the JAP in the little sundress".

- "Why Can't You Be" is another track that cuts right back to the roots of the band, as it is clearly born from the same loins as "How's it Gonna Be" and "Deep Inside of You". In fact, the connection is so strong that I would swear you can hear the guitar in the background playing a couple of cords from "Deep Inside" near the end of the song.

- The the first verse and chorus of "The Dao of Saint Paul" sound almost exactly like a Vanessa Carlton song I like ("Come Undone"), but since she and Jenkins dated for a while (and he helped produce her last album), I wonder if that's not an accident.

- All in all, the album leaves you feeling a little sad, but I think that's how it is meant to be. It does end on a hopeful note, as the end of "Montov's Private Opera" -- with the subtle piano and the choir singing -- seems to be a peaceful resolution to the clash of desire and frustration that carries the majority of the songs.