Home > Columbus Music > CD Review > Secondhand Serenade, 'A Twist in My Story'

Backstory: A punk rocker who switches to acoustic guitars and writes songs about girls…hello, Dashboard Confessional Secondhand Serenade! John Vesely is the one-man band behind SS, who rose to some prominence after his demos became a hit on MySpace (and yes, that is a sentence you will hear about 3,000 more times this year).
 
Why you should care: Although the story is familiar and the music follows the expected path (acoustic guitars, overwrought sentiment), there is something to be said about Vesely’s songs. One, they stick, like all good pop songs should. And two, there’s a an epic level to the tracks that most emo bands would kill for, thanks to the frequent use of piano and orchestration, or the full-on choir that finishes out “Your Call.”
 
Verdict: If you want to relive all the pain, anger, sorrow and angst of your 15-year-old self (in all its clichéd melodrama), “A Twist” will happily oblige.
 
X-Factor: Although he’s a newcomer, Vesely already has some heavy hitters in his corner: “A Twist” was produced by Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails) and Butch Walker (Fall Out Boy, Hot Hot Heat).

Add a comment