A Man Can Change His Stars

When a band prides itself on its "honesty," you can count on two things: it will have at least two guitars, and it will have no keyboards. And the guitars will sound big, big, big. The press materials insist that this Tulsa, OK-based band's debut album represents "simply the sound of American Rock and Roll circa 2004," but that's not quite right. Better to say that it represents the sound of post-wimp emo circa 2004, which is a compliment and which the album actually does quite well. Tony Chavez's openhearted singing style and the band's penchant for big, generous chord progressions and soaring (if sometimes vague) melodies are beautifully showcased by producer James Wisner, who has also produced in the past for such similarly inclined artists as Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever. Mourning September's religious leanings are given only the subtlest expression here: Jesus is mentioned explicitly only once (and then by title rather than by name, on the fine "Hold On") and is otherwise not mentioned except subtly, and usually in situations where he could easily be mistaken for the singer's girlfriend (as in the line "What if I cried myself to sleep tonight/Separate from you?"). Frankly, the message that these guys are most interested in sharing seems to be the gospel of big, big, big guitars. Recommended.