Matchbook Romance

Well, it's a definite departure from their debut album, Stories And Alibis, but it's still pretty bad emo. Matchbook Romance deserve some credit, though — they were willing to push themselves, experiment, broaden their musical horizons and take some chances. On Voices, they delve into math rock for Pete's sake. "You Can Run, We'll Find You" leads this off with some atmospheric music that constantly builds and has some scary-sounding lead guitar to round things out. Just when you think they have exhausted themselves with overblown emoting, they softly fade out with the gentle — but oh so pained — "I Wish You Were Here," which of course leads into the Extra Special Bonus Hidden track, a slow-burner that claims "I don't care how much this hurts/I'm prepared for the worst." Hopefully misguided fans are as well.