Brandon's Buzz

Snugly tucked amongst a handful of Harry Gregson-Williams’ soaring instrumentals (which comprise the film’s masterfully executed score) and a new tune from that infinitely annoying Russian pop tart Regina Spektor (one heifer I cannot bear, despite repeated attempts), you’ll find “This is Home” — a slightly melancholy yet uncommonly gorgeous piano-based track from one of the great contemporary bands, Switchfoot (or, as they’re better known in my orbit, “Creed with legs”) — anchoring the original motion picture soundtrack for Disney’s new The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Despite the anomaly that was “Meant to Live,” their unavoidable, slow-burning 2004 crossover smash, these guys — led by the enigmatic Jon Foreman, whose world-weary voice conveys honey and vinegar in equal measure — have flown largely (and inexplicably) below the radar in the years following their major label debut, 2003’s The Beautiful Letdown, despite a pair of sturdy, worthy follow-ups.

“Home” instantly takes a place among my favorites of 2008’s musical offerings (a mighty short list, that one, at least so far), and while — just like Alanis Morissette’s brilliant “Wunderkind” from the first Narnia soundtrack a couple of years back — the song can’t be bought individually at any of the major online music portals, a plethora of worthy efforts from this terrific band most certainly can be, and if you’re looking for an entry point into their discography, you could do much worse than be starting with any of the following.

1. “Someday We’ll Know” — Mandy Moore and Jon Foreman (from A Walk to Remember: Music from the Motion Picture) — — this stunning 2002 remake of the New Radicals’ unheralded late-’90s classic, refashioned here as a duet between himself and Moore (who, if you don’t count 2000’s “I Wanna Be With You,” was offering up her first hint of true musical fortitude, a promise she would make good on inside of eighteen months), gave us our first tantalizing taste of Foreman and his band.

2. “The Beautiful Letdown” — Switchfoot (from The Beautiful Letdown) — — after a trio of independent releases, Foreman and the boys leapt into the big leagues firing on every cylinder. A stunning introduction to a calmly confident band.

3. “On Fire” — Switchfoot (from The Beautiful Letdown) — — five years on, this is still Foreman’s finest hour, both as a songwriter and as a vocalist. Beautiful, astonishingly.

4. “Dare You to Move” — Switchfoot (from The Beautiful Letdown) — — a song that has enjoyed a bit of a digital resurgence in the few weeks since David Cook performed a (horridly truncated) rendition of it on “American Idol.” Do yourself a favor: stick with the original. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with it.

5. “Shadow Proves the Sunshine” — Switchfoot (from Nothing is Sound) — — Foreman and the guys filed down some of the harder edges of their sound for this 2005 release, allowing themselves to trust that their songs were strong enough to stand without the bombast.

6. “The Blues” — Switchfoot (from Nothing is Sound) — — That new philosophy led to simmering triumphs like this, undoubtedly.

7. “Awakening” — Switchfoot (from Oh! Gravity) — — from their latest record, an aural bottle rocket.

8. “Somebody’s Baby” — Jon Foreman (from Winter) — — not to be confused with the Jackson Browne classic of the same name, Foreman strips it waaaay down for this solo offshoot, observing and surveying the tragedy of lost innocence. Perfect for his voice (and maybe his voice only), it’s a shattering knockout.

(An overdue note about this (and all future album discussions and playlists on the Buzz): As noted in this blog’s mission statement, the primary goal of these tune-filled posts is to point A’s ears in the right musical direction, and to ensure that endeavor is successful, his objective is to listen to each song in each playlist, and to choose at least one for purchase. To streamline this task (as well as to eliminate any unnecessary keystrokes and/or questions), I have embedded iTunes links beside each song title; clicking the link carries him (and you, if you’re so inclined) directly to the appropriate album at the iTunes music store, where the song can be purchased. In addition to that, I’ve also — owing to the fact that their widgets are mind-blowingly cool — embedded two graphic representations of this playlist courtesy of Amazon’s new MP3 store. The first of these can be found at the bottom of this post; the second, in the far right sidebar on any of this blog’s public pages. You can use either of these tools to hear half-minute snippets of each playlist offering — my friend Jane-Elizabeth always tells me she loves reading about the music even though she doesn’t know a bar of it, so here’s her shot at enlightenment — and to connect to Amazon’s store to purchase each song. Until I change my mind or decide on a format I like even better than this, each now hear this post will always contain an Amazon graphic loaded with music corresponding to said post’s playlist; the sidebar graphic, on the other hand, will always contain only the most recent playlist. In addition, you’ll notice an album cover jpeg image in the upper left hand corner of this post (and of last Thursday’s Cyndi Lauper post, and of each future new music post). That image is a link which takes you to its album’s corresponding page at Amazon.com, where you’re welcome to investigate its charms further.)

names dropped with reckless abandon: "American Idol", A, Alanis Morissette, Creed, Cyndi Lauper, David Cook, Harry Gregson-Williams, Jackson Browne, Jon Foreman, Mandy Moore, Regina Spektor, Switchfoot