Album Details

• Artist: The Format
• Album: Dog Problems
• Label: The Vanity Label
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: symphony on 2007-05-10

"Starting now, I'm starting over!" So declares Nate Ruess in "Time Bomb" on the sophomore attempt of The Format's Dog Problems. From the cutesy vibrant album art all the way down to the pop-driven tracks, it's as colorful as a 64 Crayola Crayon set. You'll find some comparing this album to their previous one, Intervention and Lullabies-ignore them. This album is a totally different album than Interventions and Lullabies.

Let's call this album a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The bread is the beginning, the slow beginning with "Matches" and "I'm Actual" and the bottom slice, the equally slow "If Works Permits." Yet, in between the bread is the peanut butter and jelly or in the case of this album, the poppy, up-beat, tap-your-toes songs about whatever girl that vocalist Nate Ruess is swooning for. Songs like "Time Bomb"  really emphasize this. At times you'll find the album riddling with overused themes (dictionary definition of cliche) yet with the next track originality is rekindled ("Dog Problems"), at least in a sense. With people as musically creative as these you'd think originality would be ample--and to an extent it is. The musicianship is what some may go as far to call it genre defining and bleeds from the orifices of innovativeness ("Pick Me Up and "Dog Problems").

However at the same time, you can find the lyrics to be repetitive and the general theme of the album is about some faceless girl that Nate wants to sleep with. I'm all for freedom of expression, especially in music, but does it have to be the single concept of every single song on the album? Little asides to scene kids ("Dog Problems" and "She Doesn't Get It") are funny but are overly sprinkled in the album. We understand, on the flipside. Those damn kids can be annoying--and as much as you dislike them, Nate Ruess, at times, you can be as conformist as they are.

User Reviews and Comments

Review:

on 2007-10-20 blackxdan Said:

i personally love the format.
Not Rated