Label:The Militia Group

Release Date: November 5, 2002

Website: www.thelyndsaydiaries.com

The Lyndsay Diaries - The Tops of Trees Are On Fire
Lars Gotrich

After my three hour American Literature final on a Friday night, I decided to head straight back to the room instead of going out as usual. Flipping through the channels I landed on MTV2 showing Dashboard Confessional Unplugged. Now what makes this program any different from what Dashboard always does is beyond me (unplugged? Isn't that the point?), but the show caught my attention because of a girl. A red-haired girl (further proving why I have Charlie Brown syndrome). She was so perfectly put into the cameraman's frame between the pretty boy and his bassist. So for the sake of a cute girl, I suffered through the last twenty minutes of the show.

At first, I really didn't mind Dashboard Confessional. It was mediocre brokenhearted music for emo kids looking for their Bob Dylan (wrong place to the look, but a start, I guess). I actually attended one show, but for the sake of seeing Dan Hoerner (ex-Sunny Day Real Estate) play guitar because I knew it might be my only chance to see him perform. I even thought, and still do to a certain extent, that "Again I Go Unnoticed" and "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" were good songs. But then came TRL and teeny-boppers converting to what they think is emo. It gets worse. MTV2 recently celebrated 25 years of punk with a decent overview, but lost much credibility when the host called Chris Carraba the next Elvis Costello. COSTELLO!!!

Perhaps I'm just mad because Carraba is getting girls for writing sub-standard, bitter love songs at the lyrical level of a 10th grader.

Now what was I supposed to write about?... Oh yes, The Lyndsay Diaries. Once again, a guy (Scott Windsor) going by a pseudonym writing sad songs about failure and (surprise!) broken relationships. Now I can understand why Scott Windsor decided to go by another name: it doesn't grab your attention. I mean, if I were to do a solo acoustic act, I wouldn't use my name. Sure, it's unique, but you haven't grown up with idiots saying, "Lars GOT RICH! Get it?! Got RICH! I'm a genius!" Also like Dashboard, The Lyndsay Diaries's lyrics are very personal, but try too hard most of the time.

Some songs, however, stand out from the soft-spoken, heart-on-the-sleeve style of The Tops of Trees Are On Fire. The title track, for instance, has some nice backward drum loops heavy in the foreground with a warm organ weaving in and out. The song actually has some nice dynamics throughout and those emotional vocals that win the girls over. "Cowboy" follows with a slight country feel accented with a harmonica and some slide guitar, but missing, of course, are the country vocals. Windsor's soft voice seems slightly out of place, but the overall effect is nice. However, his juxtaposition of the cowboy life with the emo kid is laughable ("I got whiskey in my blood that needs to be purged/ So send word to my mom and dad/ that I'm heading out west/ to dream with the seagulls and lay with my thrift store clothes"). "Mixtapes and Memories" sounds exactly like Dashboard Confessional. There's no denying it, especially the "mixtapes" part since all good emo kids make mixtapes. He begins by singing, "I promise this won't be another song about being alone," but guess what? It is. His cheap attempt at irony doesn't fool anyone.

Fans of Dashboard Confessional (obviously) and maybe even Bright Eyes will eat this up. I fall into neither of those categories, but I'll keep the album for the beautiful artwork and layout by Elizabeth Chai. Oh, and if that girl from the Unplugged show reads this, call me.

posted 12.20.02

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Lars is the music editor for Tangzine.com. E-mail him lots of love at lars59@uga.edu

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