Reviewed by Haydon Spenceley

Ending their deal with heavyweight major label Columbia seems to have done wonders for Switchfoot. After the brilliant 'The Beautiful Letdown' heralded their ascent to the big leagues, the following two albums, 'Nothing Is Sound' and 'Oh! Gravity', seemed to be permeated with a desire to crack the arena rock circuit, sometimes at the expense of songwriting imagination which characterised their earlier work. Thankfully, 'Hello Hurricane' manages to maintain their radio-ready edge whilst returning the band to the sphere of past glories and even, on occasions here, extending their musical and lyrical horizons. "Needle And Haystack Life" and "Mess Of Me" are clever, whilst at the same time leaving the listener in no doubt that the band still know how to rock. It is with the astonishing "Your Love Is A Song", though, that the band demonstrate their still increasing maturity and confidence. A beautiful ballad, with a powerful lyric of praise to God, this is a song to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, precisely the kind of number missing from recent albums. "This Is The Sound" and "Bullet Soul" maintain the rocking theme but the influence of Jon Foreman's recent quartet of solo EPs is also prominent here, as the musical nuance and lyrical direction are both vastly more focused, particularly on "Always" and "Yet". Interestingly, this could be the album that cements Switchfoot as arena rock powerhouses at long last. All the components are in place.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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