Saosin

Over the course of the two EPs and single full-length preceding In Search of Solid Ground (and its pre-release demo EP), Saosin was nothing if not pleasantly predictable, with the band sticking close to the overtly sensitive Bro-Cal jock emo sound that has ensconced it firmly at the top of the Warped Tour pecking order. But the latest record is remarkable mainly for its uncannily accurate name. Saosin definitely seem to be searching, jumping from blatant FM radio butt-rock, to half-baked power balladry, to heavily programmed mid-tempo mediocrity seemingly at random. Occasionally, the band finds its mark, such as during the bridge of the borderline maudlin “Nothing Is What It Seems,” which features frontman Cove Reber harmonizing with himself like a swoop-haired Tabernacle Choir. Perhaps the band is trying to reinvent itself as the Mike + The Mechanics of a new generation? After all, the production list on In Search of Solid Ground reads like a Top 40 record, including such “names” as Butch Walker and John Feldman. Doubtlessly the band, not to mention their label, was in search of a radio single. Keep searching, bros.