A good debut for Falling Jupiter,
Sympathy for Autumn showcases some of the best hallmarks of the popular Lubbock, TX, band's sound: strong acoustic-based foundations, extremely confident dynamics, and memorably attractive melodies. Though the bulk of the material here is acoustically founded (or perhaps because of it), it's the harder, more driving songs like "I Am," "Inside," and "Burn" that ironically make the biggest splash; they are the ones that walk away with the listener instantaneously and have since become the band's best-known compositions. However, this doesn't mean that they are the only worthwhile parts of the album; in fact, that would be far from the truth. There really aren't any bad songs or low spots here whatsoever, and after several listens every song warms up and sort of takes on its own charming, singalong quality. The band tends to be better at their choruses than their verses thus far, but many of these songs date back to Jason Brown and Jared May's pre-Falling Jupiter days as an acoustic duo anyway, and there are enough exceptions to this rule on display to validate that their formidible songwriting talents will undoubtedly prevail against this in the end; that's truthfully about the only criticism that can be made of the band at this point. The songwriting is solid, the execution is tight (on "Someday,"
Alan Adams establishes himself once again as one of the best drummers in Lubbock), and the promise of better things yet to come has been made. With
Sympathy for Autumn, the boys in Falling Jupiter have proven themselves entirely worthy as successors to the throne of Spilling Poetry and have testified to all within earshot that they are the new band to watch on the West Texas music scene. ~ Matthias Sheaks