Driven Far Off

On the verge of breaking up to then go on to put out what will probably be one of the most well produced, polished, radio friendly records of 2007. The Higher fit into an interesting place in the music spectrum. If I had to categorize â┚¬Ã…”On Fireâ┚¬?, it would get thrown into a pop punk section, and maybe thatâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s correct, yet the album raises the typical pop punk bar a couple of notches.

First thing is first, there are 2 songs they rerecorded, but the songs are so much better and flow so naturally that you might not even realize that they are older songs. There is actually a 3rd song â┚¬Ã…”Pace Yourselfâ┚¬? that is from their last record. Itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s been remixed by Patrick Stump (think FOB) and I still canâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t figure out why they included it on the disc because itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s flat out terrible. The song gets repetitive real fast and offers nothing to the record.

The thing â┚¬Ã…”On Fireâ┚¬? does well is try to give each song a unique feel. â┚¬Ã…”Insuranceâ┚¬? has a sort of salsa mixed with rock feel which is weird at first but strangely compelling. â┚¬Ã…”Can anyone really love youngâ┚¬? is a John Mayer reminiscent love song. And what album would be complete without a string/synth ballad like â┚¬Ã…”Our movie rulesâ┚¬? to close out the full album. This album rarely, if ever, repeats itself in terms of style and feel which is good because too often records are coming with the same song repeated 12 times.
The record reminds me of the catchiness of â┚¬Ã…”Cute is what we aim forâ┚¬? but without the embarrassment of saying you listen to â┚¬Ã…”Cute is what we aim forâ┚¬?. After everything is said and done â┚¬Ã…”On Fireâ┚¬? is definitely worth checking out and most people will probably agree itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s worth the ten bucks.

Tracklisting
01. Insurance?
02. Guts
03. Rock My Body
04. Weapons Wired
05. Histrionics
06. Movement
07. Can Anyone Really Love Young
08. Darkpop
09. DARE
10. 31 Floors
11. Our Movie Rules
12. Pace Yourself (Patrick Stump Remix)