The first Austin Powers movie was brilliant. The problem was with the two inferior sequels. So how do we go from comedic gold to Goldmember? Essentially, the original was based on a notebook full of Mike Myers’ musings, so to think a sequel could replicate that kind of magic was pretty stupid. This is (indirectly) why I have been such an unfaltering fan of Rogue Wave. It seems unlikely that any album they put out will top Out of the Shadows. The album that evoked such well struck Shins comparisons (especially as both label and tourmates) did so through rather unique methods. The album was laid down by Zach Rogue in New York and colored in by a band slapped together back in Rogue’s homestate of California, with a little help from the internet. These conditions of Out of the Shadows’ conception adorned the album with the ambrosial resplendence of the West Coast delivered with the sardonic bent of a despondent New Yorker. It was magical. Thankfully, Descended Like Vultures, the debut for the group as a whole, didn’t go the Austin Powers’ route of regurgitated genius. Instead, Rogue Wave evolved as a group following the blueprint established by the debut. The comparison is similar to what Built to Spill is doing now versus There’s Nothing Wrong With Love. The heart is the same, but the execution and ornamentation have come a long way.

Permalight, on the other hand, seems to exist in a realm separate from the established storyline. I won’t call it a new page, mostly because I’m hoping it’s just an outlier, but I also hesitate given the circumstances that inspired this reinvention of their sound. The past two years have brought Rogue (and Wave) misery in the tragic death of former band mate Evan Farrell, as well as a tour halting injury. A couple of slipped disks in Rogue’s back caused temporary paralysis of his hand. Rather than wallowing, Rogue took the returned use of his extremities as a gift and decided to make an album in celebration.

That said, part of me really feels like a jerk for not liking the album more. Rogue compared picking up the guitar again to the first time he picked it up, and that youthful energy really does come across, but it’s just a little…well, sophomoric. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the abiding injury has stymied the normally intricate guitar playing. After all, Asleep at Heaven’s Gate did get a little heavy, so maybe a dance break is just what we needed? Well now I’m probably being too nice instead of overly harsh. This is the problem with having a bias.

Let’s look at this as objectively as we can. Rogue Wave’s best quality has always been their sense of intimacy. Out of the Shadows is the most raw form of intimacy, but even then it was a little elusive. What Rogue Wave succeeded in doing in their two subsequent records was expanding the framework of the band as they became more familiar with one another and burying the intimacy under layers of vocal harmony and sensationally bombastic production without ever letting the elusive intimacy die completely. Permalight is actually significantly lighter in its production compared to the group’s last two albums, but the spotlight has shifted from the songwriting to the beats. Weird. “Fear Itself,” “Right With You” and “I’ll Never Leave You” are really the only tracks that feel like vintage Rogue Wave. “I’ll Never Leave You” is head and shoulders above the rest of the tracks in its ability to break your heart and make you smile all at once. Still though, these tracks are inversions of the slippery minor chord tracks like “Seasick on Land” and “Are You On My Side” that were so evocative in that Nick Drake kind of way. Then when you take the almost painfully cheerful tracks like “Per Anger,” “Stars and Stripes” or “Good Morning (The Future)” it just gets a little tiresome. I’m not saying I dislike any of these tracks, “Good Morning” is particularly addictive, but for the wrong reasons.

I don’t want to wish sadness on somebody I have so much respect and admiration for, but it sure does make a better muse. I guess something so intensely personal really can’t be judged unless you’ve had a similar experience, but the whole new-lease-on-life thing really just doesn’t do it for me. I’ve never really been that close to death, but I am more or less aware of the tenuous nature of life. People who insist on appreciating every moment are either hypocritical or downright annoying. Rogue Wave went straight from making some of their most provocative and slow burning tracks to cranking out pop ditties – they’re really good at it, but it’s just so beneath them.

Track List:
1. Solitary Gun
2. Good Morning (The Future)
3. Sleepwalker
4. Stars and Stripes
5. Permalight
6. Fear Itself
7. Right With You
8. We Will Make a Song Destroy
9. I’ll Never Leave You
10. Per Anger
11. You Have Boarded
12. All That Remains