Where We Come from It Never Snows (CD - 2008)

Audio Mixers: Bob Burch; Cameron Webb.

Photographer: Justin Abilla.

Recorded in 2006 but not released until early 2008 due to label difficulties (although five of the album's 14 tracks came out on a stopgap CD EP in 2007), Where We Come from It Never Snows finds Christian pop-punk act Olivia the Band at an awkward stage in their career. Written and recorded during a period of personnel instability -- a session drummer plays on the album, and producer Mike Krompass plays much of the guitar and takes co-writing credit on nearly every song -- Where We Come from It Never Snows is a considerably glossier album than the band's self-titled debut. The tight, compressed, overproduced sound takes away almost all of the band's personality and leaves them sounding like just another cookie-cutter pop-punk band in the Sum 41 meets Yellowcard mode. Even the overtly Christian themes of the band's earlier songs are quashed a bit here in favor of the musical equivalent of what political bloggers call "dog whistle" statements by politicians on the campaign trail: language that those in the know recognize as Christian-themed that would most likely fly over the head of the average punter. It's possible that this is a sincere attempt on the band's part not to be seen as overt proselytizers, but given the carefully managed, everything-in-its-place sound and image of the rest of the album, it's hard to get away from the idea that Olivia the Band is deliberately downplaying their evangelical side in an attempt to attract a wider (i.e., secular) audience. The irony is that this album has taken so long to be released that pop-punk and indie rock trends in general have long since moved away from the post-Green Day mode of these adequate but undistinguished songs, and so Where We Come from It Never Snows just sounds a bit stale. ~ Stewart Mason minimize