Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees

Everybody makes mistakes: Eve and the apple, Hughes's Spruce Goose, Dashboard Confessional and their last two albums. But while some mistakes are irreversible, The Shade of Poison Trees more than atones for Chris Carrabba's chequered past. Strumming with urgency on opening track Where There's Gold… Carrabba establishes the themes of privilege and hopeless affluence which run throughout the LP. His characters, "daughters and sons of the privileged elite" are culled from the pages of Fitzgerald or D.H. Lawrence, with all their beauty and mystery intact: "And all the saints will rise again as sons of wealthy men and tear the world down" he sings. While it's easy to idolise the O.C., Carrabba calls out the cracked façade of nouveau riche on the album's best track, Matters of Blood and Connection. Some songs do slip back to DC's patented heartbroken stories but at worst the album is indistinct, and at best an outstanding return to form. [Hamza K]