Dashboard Confessional just emerged from the Crooked Shadows with their first new album in nine years. In the interest of making up for lost time, Chris Carrabba has not only made some confessions to his dashboard but also to a cockpit, flying into Toronto and stopping by the Exclaim! office to perform an acoustic session for No Future ahead of a cross-Canada tour.
Despite appearing before our Exclaim! TV cameras not once but twice with folk-rock project Twin Forks, this was Carrabba's first time in front of the lens solo — bringing it back to how Dashboard Confessional started out. The now-band have come a long way since then, as evidenced by the two tracks he stripped down for this session: Crooked Shadows' first two singles, "We Fight" and "Heart Beat Here."
In our review of Crooked Shadows, we called "We Fight" a strong opener, referencing the message about standing firm in your beliefs and its clean, rock-oriented sound as proof that "even after all this time, Dashboard still remember their roots." That Carrabba manages to evoke the same feelings with no backing band only further cements the fact that he has a firm grasp on the sound that made him a household name.
"Heart Beat Here," on the other hand, is somewhere between Dashboard and Twin Forks, with the subtle finger-picking flirting with folk for this sequel to the song about the best day he ever had, "Hands Down." But when he holds a 15-second note, it's clear this emo legend is still here to emote, evoking power through pushing his vocals to the limits.
You can watch Dashboard Confessional perform both songs below.
You can also listen to all of Crooked Shadows over here and don't forget to take our quiz to find out your Dashboard Confessional theme song, in which you can get both of these songs, as well as long-ime faves like "Vindicated," "The Swiss Army Romance," "Screaming Infidelities," "Rapid Hope Loss," "Don't Wait," "Stolen" and many more.
Despite appearing before our Exclaim! TV cameras not once but twice with folk-rock project Twin Forks, this was Carrabba's first time in front of the lens solo — bringing it back to how Dashboard Confessional started out. The now-band have come a long way since then, as evidenced by the two tracks he stripped down for this session: Crooked Shadows' first two singles, "We Fight" and "Heart Beat Here."
In our review of Crooked Shadows, we called "We Fight" a strong opener, referencing the message about standing firm in your beliefs and its clean, rock-oriented sound as proof that "even after all this time, Dashboard still remember their roots." That Carrabba manages to evoke the same feelings with no backing band only further cements the fact that he has a firm grasp on the sound that made him a household name.
"Heart Beat Here," on the other hand, is somewhere between Dashboard and Twin Forks, with the subtle finger-picking flirting with folk for this sequel to the song about the best day he ever had, "Hands Down." But when he holds a 15-second note, it's clear this emo legend is still here to emote, evoking power through pushing his vocals to the limits.
You can watch Dashboard Confessional perform both songs below.
You can also listen to all of Crooked Shadows over here and don't forget to take our quiz to find out your Dashboard Confessional theme song, in which you can get both of these songs, as well as long-ime faves like "Vindicated," "The Swiss Army Romance," "Screaming Infidelities," "Rapid Hope Loss," "Don't Wait," "Stolen" and many more.