Rocky Votolato - 'Suicide Medicine' (Sore Point)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Getting it right when other people have failed isn't really as hard as it sounds. By definition, you've got a handwritten guidebook of what pitfalls to avoid.
But in this whole sincere singer/songwriter affair, many have got it wrong in that they've failed to actually make any good music, yet succeeded in duping millions into thinking that there's something incredibly worthy about their work, deserving of the adoration and, more importantly, disposable income of unfathomable numbers of touchy-feely, diary-keeping teenagers worldwide... Failure seems a very attractive prospect.
Kudos, then, is due to Rocky Votolato for sticking to his principles. Yeah, it's whiny at times, but there's nothing too over-the-top, nothing overly polished, nothing held back for the sake of upsetting the target demographic; just a lot of very well-constructed songs about suicide. Heck, it's a lot better than Dashboard Confessional, admittedly not as good as Bright Eyes, but pretty good when considered alone.
There are two types of people concerning output like this. The first will find lines like, 'Oh God, I love you, I mean forever, I left my body behind to break the news,' and 'You look smashing in your fourth-grade picture' (both present in the title track's chorus) some of the most poignant pieces of prose since the final episode of 'Dawson's Creek' had them blubbering uncontrollably. The second, meanwhile, will discern them as the most hateful sentences uttered since that very same programme had them furiously tolerating its banality, teeth-clenched, in the hope that their girlfriend would find them to be the 'sensitive type' and reward them accordingly.
There could not be a more perfect record for the former collective, be it through Votolato's lone warbling over a plain acoustic backdrop (where the record works best - the aforementioned title-track, the Springsteen-eqsue moment of rare happiness on 'Alabaster', the plaintive 'Prison is Private Property'), or the full-band, somehow welcomingly not overblown efforts, like an opening 'The Light & the Sound', truly anthemic 'Every Red Cent' and the so-good-even-strings-can't-ruin it 'Death Right'.
Of course, there's a little soppy crap: songs that mention mix-tapes for one are always hard to take seriously, and a little admittance that, lo and behold, there is actually some happiness in this cruel world wouldn't have gone amiss (dare we posit that it could actually have made the bleak parts all the more affecting?), but what makes 'Suicide Medicine' easily capable of brushing such criticisms aside is that with every moment of supposed soppiness it does at least come across that our Rock does mean it (man), but more importantly, he translates it via simple, skilfully prepared, memorable rock songs.
It might be unrealistically, perpetually downbeat and prone to sounding a little wet, but there's honesty here, and the vehicles for it are infinitely listenable. It's surprising how few of this ilk have managed even that.
Artists in this article: Rocky Votolato
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