On Handwritten, his lyrics have finally settled into a perfect spot between craft and catharsis. And the music isn’t far behind.
Not only is Handwritten The Gaslight Anthem's best album, but it's also one of the best albums of 2012.
Despite his continued, gracious nods to a host of musical grandmasters, on ‘Handwritten’ Brian Fallon’s showing more of his true self than ever before.
As a whole Handwritten has all of the heart-on-rolled-up-sleeve passion that makes the Gaslight Anthem a band that is so easy to love and identify with.
With Brendan O’Brien’s slick production and Fallon’s noted shift toward introspective lyrics, The Gaslight Anthem seems to have settled into a more mature sound akin to “We Did It When We Were Young” rather than “Great Expectations.”
Handwritten is Gaslight's biggest-sounding, most straightforward album. The hints of Motown and dub are gone, but superproducer Brendan O'Brien supplies bite and gleam.
An honorable effort in what they do best, but with the evolution shown in ‘American Slang’, you would have hoped this man would have grown into a superhuman by now.
Handwritten has heart, but musically, the band’s lost its edge.
It’s revealing that the album’s best moments are those in which the Gaslight Anthem incorporate their influences rather than emulate them.
If you love big guitars and vocalists who can’t help but throw in woah-oh-woahs and yeah-yeahs, you’re going to love this record.
With four albums in the can, The Gaslight Anthem hardly seem the types to change their tune.
If in the past he managed to transform similar icons into a communal mythology, here it too often sounds like regurgitation, as though the reference were an end in itself.
Those familiar with the band's oeuvre will find few surprises here, although if you're not familiar but were (for some reason) eagerly awaiting a new Goo Goo Dolls release then this will at least serve to tide you over.
Ideally, Gaslight's return should fall somewhere within the American Slang/Handwritten era, even though I'd gleefully welcome anything they eventually choose to put out. But here they had sorted out. It's the perfect distillation of everything Fallon and the Gaslight is, from energetic punk anthems to swooning Americana ballads and tales of love, nostalgia, and heartbreak.
Far from a by-the-numbers release, this fourth album is definitively their best. Every track is drenched in passion and Fallon’s voice is its perfect vehicle. Standout tracks aplenty show the growing maturity of the band’s sound, for whereas ‘The 59 Sound’ defined their sound, here it was deepened to create a genuine masterclass. The titular track details this winning songwriting formula with Fallon singing: ‘It travels from heart, to limb, to pen.’ Other ... read more
#1 | / | Alternative Press |
#48 | / | American Songwriter |
#60 | / | PopMatters |