“I was a teenage anarchist/but then the scene got too rigid,” announces Tom Gabel on his band’s latest single (to the dismay of your emotionally stunted older brother, already in heavy rotation on Much), which culminates in his realization that “The revolution was a lie!” (which, a-doye). Against Me! took a swing at the big time with 2007’s New Wave; White Crosses will cement it. Gabel’s lyrics, often full sentences often uncomfortably stuffed with earnestness (“The dynamic to the relationship never changes”) are coated in a fine gloss by Butch Vig, who sanded off the edges and let the pop seep into the crevices left by abandoned idealism and outdated ethics. Thank christ.
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2010.