Vice Verses CD

Vice Verses is a record of tension and release. It's an attempt to describe the polarity of the human experience. The sunlight and shadow. The highs and lows, laughter and pain, hope and fear, doubts and belief," says lead singer/guitarist Jon Foreman. Vice Verses is soul music attempting to get to the heart of the human experience: Living in the tension and turning it into song.

It's that very uneasiness - an unwillingness to choose the treadmill over the triathlon - that fuels the band's forays into new musical territory and Jon Foreman's unflinchingly honest lyrics. Songs like 'Afterlife' and 'The War Inside' take the harder-edged approach of their previous release, Hello Hurricane a step further, creating what Billboard has called 'powerful, anthemic rockers' like an amalgamation of U2's 'Achtung Baby, - Linkin Park. Overall, Vice Verses is a more eclectic collection than its predecessor with quiet gems like 'Souvenirs' and the title track next to the infectious 'The Original', - reminiscent of Foo Fighters, and the biting, largely spoken-word 'Selling the News'. The rousing lead single 'Dark Horses' makes abundantly clear, we were designed to transcend, to stand up against the darkness.

Working with producer Neal Avron (Weezer, Linkin Park) and executive producer Mike Elizondo (Eminem, 50 Cent, Pink, Maroon 5 and Fiona Apple), the band recorded most of Vice Verses in their San Diego, CA home studio.

The art comes from the awkward ache. The knot in my stomach usually teaches me more than comfort ever could. The sculptor's chisel carves away at the block to bring something new into being. In the same way, we hammer away at the world we're given to bring something new into being. We re-appropriate the past and present to create the future - breath by breath.

VIce Verses is Switchfoot's eighth studio album.