Cute Is What We Aim For's "Rotation"

Cute Is What We Aim For's much anticipated sophomore album, Rotation…well, it's not really that much anticipated. It was anticipated by me and I'm sure a few other kids who cared that Fred left. We were just anxiously waiting to see how they would sound…and the results…well, they're interesting, to say the least. We kick off Rotation with Practice Makes Perfect, the first single of the album.

Not such an obvious choice, being a song about self-degradation, but it's the first single nonetheless. Crazier things have happened in the music industry then Shaant Hacikyen singing about how he's "become what a mother wouldn't want in a son." Right off the bat, the skill level of the band as musicians has obviously improved. It truly just sounds better, it's not the same repetitive bass line over and over again that we came to know in Blood Rush. But the lyrics…leave something to be desired. The choruses are catchy, but extremely repetitive; and the word-play that we came to love in Blood Rush seems to be all-but distinguished.

Downtrodden by this realization, I moved on to Doctor, which did not help my dismal state at this point. Again, catchy but nothing to bat an eyelash at.

Navigate Me is something different, if only for it's lust-filled and somewhat creepy lyrics; ie "I'm creepin' your way and these sheets aren't stoppin' me." Loser immediately captivates me, with the unexplained intro of Shaant reciting the first verse of The Lord's Prayer. And it continues to keep my attention; although the lyrics are just as simplistic, combined with the music, they just seem to fit. But I'm still craving those hooks.

Moving along to Do What You Do feels like home for me; it's possibly my favorite song on the album. Catchy as hell, and I can feel a little bit of the old Cute Is What We Aim For I love, but fitted into this new group, with solid instrumentalists and a lead singer whose voice has lost almost all of its nasally sound. A good introduction to the next song, Hollywood, where we visit territory familiar to Cute fans; Hollywood glamour and lies in an obviously condescending song, pining for old Hollywood as opposed to the fakeness of today's world. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed near the end; Shaant rapping? What is this?

Safe Ride, aptly named, is the first slow jam of the album. Nothing special, just as catchy as the rest of the album. For some reason, the soaring vocals are reminding me of At Your Funeral by Saves The Day. And now I'm so confused, I just need to move on to The Lock Down Denial. Not particularly memorable, besides the fact that there's background screaming, so unexpected of a Cute Is What We Aim For song, and obviously an influence of their producer, who also produced all of The Used's albums.

Up next we have Marrriage To Millions. Rockstars just can't have their privacy and eat it too. The sound is fantastic, so nice to hear from a band who everyone assumed was a "one trick pony". The complexity within the song is extremely refreshing.

Miss Sobriety shows that Shaant just can't seem to stop singing about inebriated girls [See The Fourth Drink Instinct] CIWWAF is kickin' it old school with this one; the hooks are back in town and I'm lovin' it. Essentially, Miss Sobriety is a fun pop song with dark lyrical undertones…hmm, where have I heard that before, Pete Wentz?

Taking a cue from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and We The Kings, Cute end their album with a softer song, Time, which eventually builds up to a ballad-esque ending. I like the lyrics on this song more then I do on the entire album, so I guess it was an extremely fitting ending.

To tell you the truth, I still don't know what to make of it. All I know is, I like this album, for some reason. So don't worry, Fred lovers. Dave Melilo seems to be doing a fantastic job.