Summers Kiss EP

The companion piece to the winter 2001 EP So Impossible, the breezy Summer Kisses EP finds Dashboard Confessional -- under, as always, the direction of heartbreaker Christopher Ender Carrabba -- turning in a sun-kissed, acoustic-based collection of four songs, most about love (at least to a certain extent). Songs about devotion, actually, pledging his love in a variety of ways, as he earnestly sings his melodies over eagerly strummed guitars and big drums. Carrabba doesn't alter his vocal approach much -- exhortations are the modus operandi here, not crooning -- and his wordy lyrics perhaps don't lend themselves easily to hooks (and it's hard not to wish that they did), but there's enough variation in sonic texture from track to track to give it the impression of tunefulness, if not the reality. And let it not be said that he's lacking in humor -- the last song is "Ender Will Save Us All," after all. So, while Summer Kisses doesn't provide a breakthrough, it is a progression, not just in its instrumentation and humor, but in how it suggests that Carrabba's songwriting is beginning to gel, and they're able to keep the emo but make it light. And, ultimately, that's a nice indicator for the next full-length. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine