Angels & Airwaves

We Don’t Need To Whisper (Geffen)
by Clint Goulden

All the credit in the world goes to Tom DeLonge for starting over. In today’s music scene, starting over – and no, throwing together a side project doesn’t count – is as admirable as deflecting major labels, videos, and MySpace. And when you front one of the most influential pop-punk bands of the ’90s – it’s that much more an intricate endeavor.

We Don’t Need To Whisper is the first effort from DeLonge’s new outfit, Angels & Airwaves, and is parallel to his short-lived but promising Box Car Racer vehicle of 2002, when Blink’s impending demise was in full realization. Sleepwalking through a series of riffs and Postal Service electronics, these ten do little more than favor Delonge’s yowl, as the other three tattooed dudes in the band do their best to simply stay out of the way. DeLonge seems anxious to publicize his departure from the masturbating bears that were Blink-182, and all in Tom Cruise-like fashion. Unfortunately, there just isn’t much here that doesn’t call to memory the latter Blink discs; much in the same fashion you can spot Sparta in Relationship of Command. Some of the sounds are more mature, but shouldn’t they be? DeLonge is now a Democrat, a mogul, and pushing not only a stroller, but his early 30s. Much credit to DeLonge for starting over, but then again, credit is not awarded for effort. Just ask Box Car Racer.
(www.geffen.com)