Track Listings
It's the way that you use it
Freeze Frame
Sunlight Silence
Headlights
Falling Man
Radio
Alcatraz (Acoustic)

Discography
Too Broken To Break (2007)
It's the Way That You Use It Ep (2004)
Goesaroundcomesaround (1999)

Release Date: (September 24, 2004)
Label: H5D
Producer:

December  Hotel 
Overall Rating:  +++-

It's The Way That You Use It)

Seeing a CD review of the band Fono is most likely to bring one of two responses: 1) Who is Fono? 2) Holy crap, I can't believe they're still around! For me it was the second response. I was a big fan of the band's debut album Goes Around Comes Around way back in 1999 when I lived for Christian rock. Even now I could go back to that album and appreciate it quite a bit.

For the past few years Fono has been meaning to put an album out. They found a fair amount of success through MP3.com and a tour with the Goo Goo Dolls. In October of 2003, only a few days away from completing their album, the California wildfires raged and consumed the band's recording studio, robbing them of gear, equipment, and perhaps most disheartening, the tracks that they had been working on recording for so long.

Most bands would call it quits at this point, but Fono somehow kept on going. The title of the new EP It's the Way That You Use It became meaningful in a new way as they were forced to rise above adversity to put out a long overdue album. And so it would make sense that the band would be a bit nervous at this point. It would also make sense if the album seems a bit rusty after all that has occurred. And quite honestly, it does.

It's the Way That You Use It doesn't take too far of a departure from Fono's earlier work as we hear modern rock with strong hooks and European sensibilities. When I first put this album in I was struck with what sounded like the b-sides from Goes Around Comes Around. I've moved on past that, though and come to realize that there really is something here to make this album worth a listen. Singer / songwriter Del Currie has poured himself into these songs and it's obvious through the angst often heard in his voice.

There are a couple of songs that keep this album from being a waste of aluminum. "Headlights" is one of them with a bridge and chorus that swell to a point that's hard to resist. "Falling Man" is probably the highlight here, though. The song was written about a man who jumps from an 80 story building and deals with the thoughts that would go through someone's head at such an intense moment. The song concludes, "You can't jump in the arms of God / You can't jump, you have to fall."

The two songs that follow are by far the weakest on the album. The opening of "Radio" with Currie's droning vocals is pretty bad. The following acoustic version of "Alcatraz" is a useless take on the original version from Goes Around Comes Around.

So is this a good album? At points, yes. It shows that Fono still has the potential to make some good stuff. Perhaps they need a strokeof good luck to get started again, but if they can stay out of the way of natural disasters, perhaps this EP could pave the way for something better down the road.

~ Trae Cadenhead

Fono  (homepage)