The Fold

Dear Future, Come Get Me…

[3/5]



Chicago’s the Fold are a tricky band to figure out. Sure, they play fairly innocuous pop-rock, and they do it on par with many of their Windy City scenemates past (Spitalfield) and present (Plain White T’s), as well as some of their bigger influences (Jimmy Eat World) and contemporaries (Fall Out Boy). But the problem is that homogenizing all those bands and more into one group leaves the listener with an 11-song album that is enjoyable, catchy but ultimately rather faceless.



The disc isn’t without merit: The opening track, “File Under : Ground,” sounds like a long-lost cut from criminally underappreciated power-pop act the Stereo, and is one of the disc’s best. On that same note, the band end remarkably strong with closing track “Neverender,” which delivers a wonderful, sing-songy vocal line in the chorus that is a solid contender to get lodged in your skull for weeks at a time. The downside? It sounds remarkably like the Plain White T’s. Another, more obvious instance of art imitating art is “Head Held High,” which is trying so hard to duplicate the warm resonance of Jimmy Eat World’s quieter materal, but it doesn’t bring enough new ideas to the table to do so.



There are bright spots scattered throughout the rest of the disc (“I Know Where I’m Going” has a sly lyrical shoutout to Johnny Cash) and there are no truly embarrassing missteps (although we would’ve dropped the weird R&B of “These Are My Dreams”), but when it comes down to it, there’s just not enough on Dear Future, Come Get Me… to elevate it beyond background music. (SELF-RELEASED) Scott Heisel



GO DOWNLOAD: “Neverender”