The Earliest Bird: Top New Record Release 1-28-22 – 2-3-22, “Burning Heart” By Dashboard Confessional Reviewed

Emo was grunge with even less success, much less omph, and a whole lotta bands that didn’t know quite how to do it. Personal favorite band was The Get Up Kids, with Jimmy Eat World nearby. Dashboard Confessional, essentially a one man band and that man is Chris Carrabba, was up their with Weezer waiting to break pop… but it didn’t happen for him, at least not all the way and then he had a breakdown, etc, etc, etc.

Fast forward fifteen years and emo is back as it clings to hip hop and electronica to make it 2022 proper. It is inches from a moment, circling the charts in 2021 more so than the punk ska bands have been doing (speaking of which, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones broke up). The emo cruise in November, featuring Dashboard Confessional, and the entire movement is pressing its face against the window at the “When We Were Young” Las Vegas Fest headlined by MCR and Paramore (a rotation after Chris).

How far it goes is purely dependent on how much of Chris’s whining you can take and on his new single, “Burning Heart” -another breakup song with an irritating hook that gets to you as much as you wish it would leave you in peace and quiet (especially peace) and he is such a bummer here, whining so consequently it will drive you too distraction. It is just depressing

This would be bigger if his audience was fifteen year old boys and not 35 year old incels. If this breaks pop I will faint and where is the old school really weird song titles (pace Cute Is What We Aim for) and why don’t we consider bands that broke pop (My Chemical Romance, Panic! At The Disco -running from emo tags as fast as their little feet will take them.

Meanwhile, Chris won’t start whining like Conor Oberst with no undertow.

Chris is 46 years old.

Grade: C