 
Yellowcard are currently gearing up to release
their seventh studio album ‘Lift A Sail’
and this time around Yellowcard have decided to
stick with their longtime producer Neal Avron
and headed down to his studio in Los Angeles,
but musically Yellowcard have decided to do things
differently and have go for a more full on harder
hitting approach where everything is turned up
that little bit louder and played that little
bit harder making ‘Lift A Sail’ a
more full on rock experience yet still staying
true to the bands roots with the big and honest
lyrics that front man Ryan Key has been writing
for years.
‘Lift A Sail’ is the first Yellowcard
album to be released through their new label Razor
And Tie and it seems like perfect timing as everything
seems to be changing for the better with Yellowcard
well apart from the fact long time drummer Longineu
W. Parsons III has recently departed the band.
A short instrumental introduction called ‘Convocation’
kicks off the album and the track is quite a soothing
number with the violins taking centre stage and
beautifully setting things up for the epic running
of track two ‘Transmission Home’ which
opens with some solid drum beats, massive guitar
riffs and Yellowcard sounding as heavy as they
did back in their ‘Light And Sound’
days, however this time around things are a little
more technical, a little more thought about, a
little more slower yet the song oozes in excellence
from start to finish, vocally Ryan Key is on top
form and shines even more when the beautiful chorus
kicks in.
‘Crash The Gates’ see’s Yellowcard
once again go all out with their instrumental
work and they make some great sounds where things
are so heavy yet so solid sounding as you can
clearly tell that the band have spent a lot of
time jamming, the whole build ups and break downs
throughout the song add dynamics to things and
once again Ryan Key is at the top of his game
with his vocals which chop and change slightly
with the progressive sounds of the song.
‘Make Me So’ is one of the poppiest
songs on the album and that happens to be a big
achievement as the majority of the album is quite
slow paced and serious sounding as Yellowcard
show off their darker and heavier side but luckily
‘Make Me So’ features a massive sing-a-long
bouncy chorus that we have always come to expect
from Yellowcard and within seconds you will find
yourself singing “Why, why do you make me
so? Why, why do you let me go? Why do I lose my
head? You make me so why do I lose myself? You
let me go” along with Ryan Key.
‘One Bedroom’ is the lead single to
be taken from the album and it is ever so perfect
as the song is so relaxed sounding yet so beautiful
at the same time, the lyrics are well written
and easy to relate to and during the first listen
of the song you will find yourself humming along
and during the second or third you will find yourself
picking up the well written lyrics and singing
alongside Ryan Key.
‘Fragile And Dear’ is another soft
and beautiful song, ‘Illuminate’ see’s
things go a bit heavy whilst remaining so nice,
‘Madrid’ see’s the band go down
a real gentle acoustic route and its fantastic
as it gives Ryan Key so much chance to shine with
his well written lyrics and well executed vocals
which grace the airwaves in such a strong way.
‘The Deepest Well’ happens to be the
hardest hitting song on the album and it quite
frankly rocks.
The album title track ‘Lift A Sail’
is slow sounding but happens to build up to be
a massive sing-a-long number when the chorus kicks
in and it’s easily going to be released
as a single sometime in the near future as Yellowcard
really would be missing a trick if they decided
otherwise.
Things come to a close with the beautiful ‘California’
the song is so slow and piano driven that it manages
to end the album in such a similar fashion to
how the album opened with such amazing instrumental
sounds.
When ‘Lift A Sail’ was originally
announced I was excited that yellowcard were back
with yet another album as let’s face it
since Yellowcard returned from their hiatus back
in 2010 they have been workaholics and released
so many albums and acoustic variations, however
when I heard Yellowcard were musical going down
a different route for the album I started to have
negative thoughts about the album and really didn’t
think it would turn out that good but after listening
to the album a few times over I can confirm that
‘Lift A Sail’ is everything Yellowcard
promised it would be and more, it does take time
to understand and start to take it in but once
you invest that time you are truly rewarded with
one of the most beautifully diverse Yellowcard
albums ever released.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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