Search the City – A Fire So Big…

1 March 2010 in Album Reviews Leave a reply

Every so often, my girlfriend will plug her iPod into the stereo of her car and put on something that I’ve never heard before. 9 times out of 10 it will end up being something I enjoy. Such was the case with Search the City and their first full-length titled A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It. What initially caught my attention with this album was the intensity with which it was delivered. So often with more mainstream music everything is polished into mediocrity; vocalists are autotuned, instrumentation is mostly virtual, rhythms are quantized to 4/4 perfection – it all smacks of ridiculousness. Not so with Search the City!

Background Check

Search the City came busting out of Detroit in 2006 consisting of Josh Frost (vocals), Jimmy Czech (guitar), Alex Sheldon (guitar), Adam McMillion (drums), and Jim Baird (bass). Search The City’s original nucleus, Sheldon, Czech, and McMillion, conceived the band’s name while seeking out other musicians to complete their final lineup. “They named it that because they were looking for all of the different members, all over different cities,” Frost explains. “That meant all over Michigan. And because I was living in Florida at the time, they just called it Search The City.”

These closely bonded band members draw artistic inspiration from many loud and noisy sources, then translate these harsher sounds into surprisingly melodic, highly emotional songs. “We’re more influenced by hardcore music than anything else,” Frost says of Search The City’s sound. “It doesn’t show so much because we’re pretty pop-y in parts. But collectively, we all love bands like Jimmy Eat World and bands like that.” So how would they describe their unique style? “We’d probably say progressive rock or something like that,” answers Frost.

Pros

I suppose it’s a good thing STC lists Jimmy Eat World as one of their influences upfront because they sure sound a lot alike. Fans of Jimmy Eat World’s earlier albums (think Static Prevails) will definitely notice the similarities to which I’m referring. But this isn’t a bad thing. Ever since JEW was propelled by “The Middle” into the mainstream media’s eye; there’s been a small void left behind in the alternative-punk-rock-emo hemisphere. And while many other bands have tried to somewhat awkwardly fill this niche, it would seem Search the City is just the right size, and more than up to the challenge.

The music is powerful without feeling too overwhelming and the lyrics evince a poetic and honest quality of the band. Overall they strike this reviewer as a solid act which would be a real treat to watch on stage. This is probably a good thing since this band is truly in their element in concert. “Live is definitely Search The City’s favorite thing to do,” McMillion says without any hesitation. “It’s a chance to release a lot of emotion. We all love what we do onstage where we’ll just look at each other and just start laughing and smiling because it’s so much fun. Playing live is definitely the best part about being in a band.” And it’s this energy and enjoyment that translates unbiasedly to their fans and first-timers alike.

Cons

While the band tends to exhibit a great potential with their music and lyrics, it seems they never quite actually hit it completely. Perhaps this accounts for the raw, almost struggling, energy heard throughout the album; as if they know what they’re capable of and running full speed towards it. However, while best intentions are important they only carry one so far – and that applies here as well. After listening through the album several times I was continually left with a feeling of wanting more, as though something were missing and neither myself nor the band could put our fingers on it.

And sadly it may be a while before we ever find out what that missing piece is since, as of 2009, Search the City announced that they were going on indefinite hiatus. “On our very first tour after making the album, the headlining band we were out with broke up in the middle of the tour out in California, leaving us 2,000 miles from home and broke, and it seemed like this set the tone for the next year,” says lead singer Frost. “Honestly though, we didn’t have it much worse than most bands, we were just burnt out, or at least I was. We racked up quite a debt, and I decided to stop touring for a while. Jim [Czech] wanted to be on the road, so he started playing with some friends, and the rest of us slowly, started writing the next album. It just wasn’t coming together, so we just stopped working on stuff… And that’s really where we’ve left Search the City since.”

As for whether listeners will ever receive the follow-up to A Fire So Big… Sheldon adds, “We are all still musically active and still talk so we haven’t lost the two things that brought this band together: music and friendship. The state of the band has left much to miss, however, we are all pretty stoked to pursue new musical directions and chapters of our lives.” The chances seem to be slim but not completely nonexistent.

Etc…

Search the City is a really solid band with an impressive debut album under their belts. Whether or not they ever decide to come back together to find the missing pieces and finish the puzzle is ultimately up to them. On one hand they went out with a bang rather than slowly declining into obscurity, which leaves them the opportunity to come back and pick up where they left off. However, if there’s nothing left to say and a sophomore album feels forced then perhaps it’s best to leave it unwritten. Either way, what they have already given us is an enjoyable and melodic album full of power and energy that is worth repeated listening.

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Official website: purevolume.com/searchthecity
Genre: punk-rock-alternative-pop-christian
Sounds like: the illegitimate lovechild of Jimmy Eat World and Anberlin
Label: Tooth & Nail Records
Sample:
Search the City – Ambulance Chaser

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