Reported by Mary Hasett

Video by Derek Opina

Written summary coming shortly…

By Paulette Martin:

it’s that time of year…when Orange County residents have to plan out their new bus schedules. This time around, bus riders are faced with drastic changes.

Video by Derek Opina

Written Summary following shortly….

Titans drop opener to Purdue 10-4.

This is wrestling, one of the toughest sports in college athletics. Every college wrestler needs to step on the mat with the attitude of a Tasmanian devil, or suffer defeat.

Cal State Fullerton senior heavyweight Kurt Klimek knows what it takes to be a winner.

“We’re the best conditioned athletes on campus, I guarantee it,” he said.

Klimek, like all wrestlers, has tasted both success and frustration while at CSUF. It is victory and accomplishment, however, that have been his most recent companions. His record this year, prior to the Pac-10 championships, was 25 wins and nine losses with six pins and 10 bonus-point wins.

At the Pac-10 championships, held at UC Davis Feb. 27, he had a great showing. He finished fourth and earned a trip to Omaha, Neb. for the NCAA Div. I championships March 18-20. He accomplished this despite a highly competitive weight class that was so deep, it featured five wrestlers ranked in the top 20 nationally.

Teammate junior Adin Duenas, who won the Pac-10 tournament at 141 pounds, explained Klimek’s success.

“He works hard, is always in good shape, and wrestles hard the whole match,” he said.

Klimek has steadily improved over the year. The proof is in his record. Several times he defeated opponents he had lost to earlier in the season.

“I even surprised myself this year,” he said.

He was born in Carlsbad and loved growing up in the Southern California area. He’s enjoyed the mountains, desert, beach and great weather. He wanted to wrestle somewhere close to home.

“It was a big reason I came to CSUF,” he said.

Sports were not a big part of his early life. He said he didn’t start wrestling until the eighth grade, when he and his brother went to a weeklong wrestling trial. He really enjoyed it and found something he could excel at.

“My brother and I used to fight a lot, but after we started wrestling, that stopped,” he said while laughing.

He redshirted at CSUF his first year to gain some strength and experience. Coming out of Carlsbad High School he was a stout 235 pounds, but needed to convert some of his body fat into muscle to increase his strength. His hard work and great attitude have paid off. He now stands a muscular 6′3″ and weighs 285 pounds with improved quickness. He has earned a scholarship because of his improvment.

Titan Wrestling Head Coach Dan Hicks is proof that hard work leads to success. Hicks wrestled for four years at Oregon State and was a two-time NCAA champion at 142 pounds in 1978-79. “When Kurt first showed up here he was a hard worker with good basic wrestling skills, but he needed to develop muscle,” said Hicks. “He’s improved a ton.”

Hicks feels Klimek has plenty of potential.

“He needs to work on attacking the legs and maneuvering behind his opponent in order to gain control,” he said. “His strength is his calm demeanor, not too high or low. He’s a good team leader who leads by example.”

Klimek made it to the NCAA tournament this year, reaching the goal that was set by both himself and his coach. As he gets ready for the NCAA championships and ponders the bright future that his senior year promises, he reflected on his accomplishments so far.

“I don’t think I would have got as far as I have anywhere else,” he said.

The letter from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II was released just before the students’ spring break began. This hasn’t stopped the students from expressing their anger online and to their student body representatives.

Almost 7,000 students have joined a Facebook page titled, “WE DON’T WANT DISCRIMINATION IN OUR STATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES” and have organized a rally for March 23.

Matthew Jarvis Cal State Fullerton political science professor says something like this isn’t likely to happen in California.

“I’m not as worried about discrimination based on sexual orientation being a problem in a California university,” Jarvis said. “If they said we couldn’t ban it, it’s like, so what? We weren’t going to do it anyway. Not banning is different than being forced to do so.”

While Jarvis isn’t as worried about discrimination in California, he thinks many other states, especially those who don’t support gay rights, may see this opportunity in Virginia as a way to discriminate freely.

“Some universities might want to discriminate against gays or lesbians if only they could; if only the state would let them,” Jarvis said. “While I’m generally not as concerned about it in academia as I would be in most other walks of life – like government hiring, among other things  – it still would be a cause for concern.”

Some CSUF students, like 19-year-old psychology major Laura Buril, feel that Cuccinelli shouldn’t be in power.

“I really think that the schools should just drop (the issue) all together and call Cuccinelli out for the obvious homophobia he’s showing,” Buril said. “Someone who has such a bias against a certain sexual orientation shouldn’t be allowed to hold a high position.”

Other powerful officials in Virginia, like Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and former Gov. Jerry Baliles (D), have spoken openly about Cuccinelli’s letter.

McDonnell supports Cuccinelli. A spokesperson for McDonnell said that Cuccinelli’s opinion is consistent with all prior opinions from other attorney generals for over 25 years. Although he backs Cuccinelli’s letter, he said that he would “consider” supporting legislation that would extend legal protections based on sexual orientation.

Baliles, on the other hand, doesn’t support Cuccinelli and wrote a legal response to his letter.

Professors and deans in the Virginia public university system don’t plan on heeding Cuccinelli’s advice, and Jarvis believes this is because most public universities would lose money if they discriminated.

Buril predicts disaster if the universities listened to Cuccinelli.

“They realize that if they discriminate against students (and professors) based on sexual orientation, they’ll lose money and students and (it will) possibly cause them to dive into a financial crisis like what California is in now,” Buril said.

Although Jarvis believes that this problem is relatively small, he said it could be the tip of the iceberg for gay rights if other sectors get involved.

“If students want to be concerned, be concerned for the overall battle over gay rights. This issue is sort of like if someone can take this step for a university, they can take a step for other government agencies and then you might start to see real serious impacts.”

Matthew Marnell, a 20-year-old American studies major, thinks that Cuccinelli’s letter is a step backward for the United States.

“I think it’s a regression to a period of time where (anti-discrimination laws) weren’t accessible, where everyone believed that there was the heterosexual male and a heterosexual female,” Marnell said. “It’s obviously Cuccinelli trying to impress his standards of sexual orientation on the universities, which probably wouldn’t be accepted to begin with.”

Buril added that there would always be someone to toughen the lesbian, gay, bi, transgender fight, but everyone’s the same in the end.

“There’s always going to be something that ends up having one group against another until people learn to move past their biases and realize we’re all human beings,” Buril said. “We all breathe the same air and bleed the same color blood.”

Japanese children were forcibly evacuated and moved to internment camps during WWII. Photo courtesy of FlickR.com/FredMikeRudy

In the spring of 1942, hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans were removed from their homes and forced into internment camps. Among those who faced this injustice, many were students who had to leave their studies.

The Nisei Diploma Project is a collaborative effort of all the current CSU campuses that had Japanese-American students who were removed and forced into internment camps during World War II. While Cal State Fullerton was not open at the time, six other CSU campuses were – Fresno, Pomona, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and San Luis Obispo.

Through the project, those removed and forced into internment camps will receive Honorary Bachelor of Humane Letters degrees.

According to the project’s Web site, the CSU system hopes to at least ease the pain of the incarceration the students faced, and welcome the students back into the CSU.

When Beverly DiDomenico heard about the project, she was overjoyed. Both of her parents were removed from their studies and placed in internment camps during the spring of 1942 and neither were able to complete their education later. “I know if the war hadn’t happened they would have finished school,” DiDomenico said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill calling for this project last summer. According to Colleen Bentley, who has been working on the project, the six campuses included began planning their ceremonies soon after and figuring out how to locate the students.

Unfortunately, many of the students who were removed from their studies are now deceased.

“Should we have done it years ago? Of course,” said Bentley. “It’s late, but it’s still a worthwhile program we put together.”

The internment of Japanese Americans began shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. It was during that time that approximately 110,000 Japanese-Americans on the United States West Coast were interned – all under the justification of ‘national security’.

“It was an injustice upon people,” Bentley said.

DiDomenico’s parents were each placed in different camps – her mother, Ellen Kuyama-Matsumoto, in Poston War Relocation Center, and her father, Shigeki Matsumoto, in Gila River War Relocation Center.

“When I was young, my relatives would get together and talk about camp – I didn’t know what they were talking about. I didn’t find out about the relocation camp until I was taking American history in high school,” DiDomenico said.

Her mother, now 88, didn’t tell DiDomenico much about the internment. “She really wouldn’t talk about it (when I asked),” DiDomenico said. “It was the worst time of her life.”

Joy Sato’s parents were both interned in 1942 as well. “They said that they felt safe there. They were all together.”

Having heard about the Nisei Diploma project, Sato says she feels very happy for her parents. “It would have meant more to my father, because he studied very hard and then the war broke out and he had to stop.” Though Sato’s father did attend a Quaker college in Philadelphia for some time later, he had to leave in order to tend to his family’s farm back west. “He continued his education, teaching himself.”

Her mother, Mariko Sato, and her father, Jyuichi Sato, both attended what is now San Diego State University at the time of the relocation.

Sato and DiDomenico both found out about the project through letters from their parents’ schools. Their parents are among the approximately 250 other Japanese-American students that the CSU campuses are trying to find, though Bentley is quick to point out that this is not an exact number.

“It’s as close as they can get,” she said, adding that it’s believed that, statewide, as many as 2,500 students were removed from their school during the internment. That number comes from studies done by other Japanese-American organizations.

The ceremonies for the degrees are officially in May, but the campuses are being flexible with the dates, accounting for the schedules of family members attending and the wishes of the families.

“The campuses are being incredibly thoughtful,” Bentley said.

Eight months of planning and open-ended student surveys showed the band was favored alongside Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West and No Doubt.

“We’ve been planning the event since July,” said junior Michelle Carnero, Spring Concert Coordinator. Carnero’s first task was to discover which artists students cared to see perform on campus. Campus-conducted surveys showed that LMFAO was in the top 10.

“Afterwards, the majority of the year is spent getting the biggest artist we possibly can within our budget ($100,500 of the ASI budget has been allocated to the concert) and reminding people to save the date and just letting people know that the concert is coming up,” Carnero said.

After the original headliner, hip-hop artist Drake, unexpectedly backed out of contract, the chart topping, campus-friendly group was a favorable alternate.

“When booking a band, we contact an artist’s agent and ask for availability and interest and if they agree. Then Thomas Kocina, the ASI program director, and I will bring it to the Finance Committee to get it approved.

The Board of Directors approves the artists and then we can go into contract with the artist,” Carnero said.

LMFAO, with three number one hits in 2009, performed at Florida State University and UCI, and will be opening for the Black Eyed Peas this spring, was one of the few acts within financial range.

“I think it is going to be a huge concert for Cal State Fullerton,” said junior political science major and ASI Chief Governmental Officer Gregory Washington. “LMFAO is really popular and I think this will be by far the most popular Spring Concert we have had yet.”

Last year, the Spring Concert was sold out, but only 2,000 people attended the show.

“This year we’re aiming for another sold out show as well as a completely packed stadium,” Carnero said.

The Spring Concert is limited to 3,000 students (2,500 students and 500 guests) and is considered a closed event.

“I would totally go see LMFAO. They are a really upbeat and energetic group that will definitely bring the school community together,” said senior child and adolescent development major Mary Jo Pluchino.

ASI made changes to the show in order to bring in greater audiences.

“We got a lot of complaints about the line being too long last year. This year, we’ve made adjustments to move the line twice as fast,” Carnero said. “Also, this year’s concert won’t have a rock band, unlike the last three years. We have one huge headliner and a more up-and-coming opening act rather than co-headliners like last year.”

The concert will take place at the Titan Stadium on the April 16.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and the event beings at 7 p.m.  Admission for students is free and the guest fee is $10.  Tickets go on sale at the TSU Info Services on Monday, March 22.

Students march pass Langsdorf Hall, protesting for gay rights. Photo by David Munoz/Daily Titan Staff Writer

Members of gay rights organizations from Cal State Fullerton and Cal Poly Pomona united Wednesday, March 17, to rally against Itawamba Agricultural High School’s prom cancellation in Fulton, Miss., and Westboro Baptist Church’s upcoming protest at Dutchtown High School in Dutchtown, La..

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Itawamba High School for canceling prom due to a female student’s request to attend with a female date and wear a tuxedo, according to CNN.

Kamah Wilson, a member of CSUF’s Queer Straight Alliance, organized the protest as soon as she heard about the prom cancellation at Itawamba High School.

“I think after I got over the emotional part, that’s when I was thinking, ‘Don’t just be emotional,’ ” Wilson said. ” ‘Do something about it.’ ”

The protesters gathered at a table on the Titan Walk holding hand-written signs, and concluded the movement by marching and chanting across campus.

Wilson said she expected a roughly 60-person turnout, but the protest involved around 20 people at the peak of its attendance.

Wilson, who moved to California from Gonzales, La. in May 2009, was further motivated to take action after she heard that Westboro Baptist Church has planned to protest against Dutchtown High School’s play, “The Laramie Project,” which features a gay man as its main character.

Westboro will protest against the play at Dutchtown High School during the performance, according to WAFB, a news station in Louisiana.

Gonzales is located near Dutchtown, which is why the issue had a significant impact on Wilson.

Supporters of the movement were reached through Facebook, which is how Cal Poly students like Courtney True learned about the protest.

True, president of Cal Poly’s Queer Students & Allies for Equality, grew up in Texas and says she is familiar with institutionalized discrimination.

“In small towns, it’s very traditional, it’s very religious,” True said. “Hate like this is homegrown; it comes from religious backgrounds and your parents and how they believe.”

True said that since California is more liberal than most Southern states, similar incidents involving gay high school students may either be less prevalent or more overlooked.

“That’s another reason why we’re here – to bring it into the mainstream to let people be aware of what’s going on and the hate that’s being propagated all over the U.S.,” True said.

Katie Claburn, a member of QSA, said she had heard of gay students who worked around school policies in order to have same-sex dates to their high school proms. Claburn recalled that two couples had posed as opposite-sex dates and switched during the dance.

“No one hears about these issues,” Claburn said. “If they were more mainstream, it would get more coverage; people would see what a problem it really is.”

Q-SAFE plans to hold its own movement against Itawamba High School, but since Cal Poly’s winter quarter has just ended, the organization will have to wait until the week after Cal Poly’s spring break, True said.

Claburn said that although the problem at Itawamba High School could have been avoided if McMillen decided to go to the prom alone, Itawamba’s discrimination against homosexuals is an important issue that needs to be addressed.

“In some places, it’s just still not accepted,” True said. “That’s why this needs publicity; that’s why this needs to be able to be seen by more than just the queer community.”

Cancer survivors start off CSUF's first Relay for Life event on the EC lawn. Photo by Nick Marley/Daily Titan Photo Editor

The second annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life Cal State Fullerton will give students, faculty and staff the opportunity to work together to fight against cancer.

Relay for Life will last 24 hours, beginning Saturday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. and ending Sunday, April 11 at 10:00 a.m. Relay participants will walk around the Engineering and Computer Science building lawn to raise cancer awareness.

Relay for Life CSUF is a non-profit event that is part of the American Cancer Society Colleges Against Cancer Program that raises money for cancer research and programs. Donations will support the Road to Recovery program, providing cancer patients rides to and from their medical treatment.

Kaila Zamites, 18, the Fight Back Chairman for CSUF Relay for Life, said that the reason the relay will last 24 hours is because cancer never sleeps, so neither will the participants.

“One person from each team has to be walking at all times,” said Zamites.

According to the American Society of Cancer there were an estimated 1.4 million new cases of cancer in 2009.

“Everyone has been affected by cancer in some way,” Zamites added.

The event’s motto is “One Day. One Night. One Community. One Fight.”

The relay will start with the Survivors’ Lap, in which all of the cancer survivors at the event will walk around the perimeter of the lawn together to celebrate their victorious battle over cancer. After that, the teams will begin their 24 hour walk. Live bands, games and raffles will keep the participants entertained during the relay. Raffle tickets will cost $1 and all the proceeds will go directly to the American Cancer Society.

The second portion of the relay, the Luminaria Ceremony, remembers victims who lost in their battle with cancer. Candles are lit inside paper bags that display the name of a person affected by cancer. The participants will then walk a lap in silence and get a feel for why defeating cancer is such an important priority, Zamites said.

There were an estimated 562,000 deaths as a result of cancer in the United States in 2009, according to the ASC.

The Fight Back Ceremony wraps up the 24 hour event. Event participants will each sign a purple cancer ribbon which represents a pledge to help save lives by taking up the fight against cancer. According to Zamites, a list of cancer fighting organizations will be listed to provide participants the opportunity to contact an organization and volunteer.

Laura Lee, 23, a biology major and the event’s co-chair, has high expectations for this year’s event.

“Our goal is to have 45 groups participating and to raise $37,000,” said Lee.

Money is raised through registration fees, donations and fundraising events.

Registration is $100 per team or $10 for individuals who want to participate. Even though team captains must be CSUF students, faculty or staff members, everyone can take part of this event and join a team.

CSUF Relay for Life team development chairman Danielle Riniolo, 20, is taking part in the relay for her cousin.

“My cousin has had cancer since she was 8 years old and my main motivation is her,” said Riniolo.

She is also the captain of Team Infinity that has worked deals with local restaurants to host fundraising nights.

Cold Stone at the Orangefair Mall in Fullerton will donate 15 percent of customer purchases from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on March 22 to CSUF Relay for Life. On March 25, the Cantina Lounge in Fullerton will host an all-day event and donate 20 percent of customer purchases directly to the Cal State Fullerton Relay of Life.

Other student groups will also host fundraisers on the day of the event, such as bake or craft sales.

Registration will be open until the day of the event at relayforlife.org/calstatefullertonCA. Even if an individual cannot attend the event, they can still help fight cancer by donating through the Web site.

“It’s a great cause. Sign up because you want to make a difference in someone’s life,” Lee said.

Jerry Amante speaks to Cal State Fullerton students about OCTA, his experiences as mayor of Tustin and about his political stance at the TSU on Wednesday. Photo by Katie Rossomano/Daily Titan Staff Writer

Chairman Jerry Amante is also the mayor of Tustin, a Republican candidate for state legislature and an experienced corporate real estate lawyer.

The Titans drop two straight at home to ASU. Photo by Sue Lagarde/For the Daily Titan.

Cal State Fullerton Baseball loses their second consecutive game to the No. 1 Arizona State Sun Devils 8-6 in what started as a pitcher’s duel and ended in an offensive showdown with ASU capturing their 17^th victory in a row to start the season.

Starting pitcher sophomore Tyler Pill pitched well enough for the win but gets a no decision giving up one earned run, on seven hits, three walks and five strikeouts.

“I felt good, the first two innings I was a little tight, not nervous, but a little sore, then I started to loosen up and got a feel for things in the later innings,” Pill said. “I was mixing all four of my pitches and I was cross-counting my pitches and when they were looking off-speed I’d come in with a fast ball and vice versa.”

Winning pitcher goes to ASU’s freshman Jake Barrett (2-0) who came in the seventh pitching 1.2 innings giving up two runs on three hits, the save to sophomore Jordan Swaggerty, his sixth this season. Losing pitcher, senior Kyle Mertins (1-1) pitched 1/3 of an inning surrendering three runs on three hits.

“I never look to moral victories in defeat, but if we use this the right way, I really believe we got better these last two games,” Titan Head Coach Dave Serrano said. “We came up short against a very, very good team that’s playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of swagger and a lot of fight.”

The Sun Devils (17-0) scored in the top of the third when sophomore second baseman Zach MacPhee hit a two-out triple to the left-center field wall. Senior right fielder Kole Calhoun followed with a single to score Macphee and gave ASU a 1-0 lead.

The Titans (7-9) had runners on second and third after junior outfielder Walker Moore stole second and reached third on a throwing error and freshman right fielder Ivory Thomas walked and stole second, but junior catcher Zack Tanida couldn’t cash them in, grounding to sophomore shortstop Drew Maggi to end the threat and the inning tied at 1-1 in the fourth.

The game was tied into the top of the seventh inning when the Sun Devils broke the score open when sophomore catcher Austin Barnes reached on an error, and back-to-back singles brought Barnes home to give ASU the lead 2-1.

With runners on second and third Calhoun crushed a ball to center where junior center fielder Gary Brown made the play of the night in a sprint toward the wall to make an unbelievable catch and throwing the ball to junior shortstop Christian Colon who relayed the throw home to throw out MacPhee who tried to score.

“The balls were really carrying tonight and they swung the bats really well and I knew he hit it hard, and I just turned and went and jumped and luckily I caught it,” Brown said.

Brown came up with the bases loaded and one out and smashed the first pitch into left field for a single scoring senior pinch hitter Billy Marcoe from third and senior pinch hitter Joey Siddons from second.

“The guy came in last night throwing hard fastballs, so I was sitting on it, and I got a pitch to hit and got lucky it fell,” Brown said.

Sophomore first baseman Nick Ramirez followed suit with a double to the right field corner to score Colon and Brown to give the Titans their first lead of the night 5-3. Moore hit with a swinging bunt to Barrett to end the inning.

Titan Head Coach Dave Serrano talked about ASU’s resiliency yesterday and it showed tonight with the Devils responding with five of their own runs with one out in the top of the eighth inning off relief pitchers Mertins and sophomore Derrick Dingeman. Junior reliever Kevin Rath came in to get the final out of the inning with the Titans again looking up at the scoreboard down, 8-5.

The Titans fought back with a run in the bottom of the ninth but it wasn’t enough as ASU closer Swaggerty got two fly balls to end the game 8-6.

The Titans will travel north to face the University of Washington for a three game weekend series this weekend and will return home March 26 against Hawaii at 7 p.m.

It’s no surprise both dates were sold out, and on March 10, The Troubadour was packed, with everyone anticipating Manchester Orchestra’s performance.

“I wanted to see (Manchester Orchestra) because I’m a fan.” said Theresa Garcia, 25, of Ventura. “I love their songs and connect with their lyrics.”

Holly Brooks, 28, of Los Angeles, said that the band’s passion is why she is a fan of Manchester Orchestra.

Opening the night was Atlanta, Georgia’s own O’Brother. Sounding similar to Brand New’s softer material, O’Brother spent a majority of their half hour set complaining about how bad they sounded. They were met with a lukewarm reception, at best.

After came Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro. Biffy Clyro had quite a large fan base at the show, and sounded similar to Muse.

Following were The Features from Nashville, Tennessee. They had a similar sound to Manchester Orchestra, and put on a pretty impressive set.

Then came time for the main act.

Manchester Orchestra’s front man and guitarist Andy Hull came out before the band, and broke into “50 Cent,” an ode to the rapper. The rest of the band joined Hull and broke into “Now that You’re Home,” off the album I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child.

The band’s sound has a pretty diverse range. At times they were soft and ambient, with Hull sounding eerily similar to Kermit the Frog. At other times, the band channeled their inner-Nirvana, complete with background screams.

Manchester Orchestra’s set was a nice balance between I’m Like a Virgin and Mean Everything to Nothing, including tracks like “Shake it Out,” “My Friend Marcus,” “I’ve Got Friends,” and “Everything to Nothing.” Also included was a cover of Neil Young’s “Walk On.”

The band did not speak very much in-between songs, though Hull did say that Manchester Orchestra were heading into the studio this summer to record the follow up to Mean Everything to Nothing, and played a new song that will be on the album.

“I thought they performed pretty well” said Garcia.

“Amazing” said Brooks.

Although not everybody shared their sentiments.

“I thought they were ok,” said Kaitlyn Hennigan, 25, of Los Angeles. “I thought they were better the first time I saw them (last year when they opened for Brand New).”

Frightened Rabbit’s latest release, and their third album, is everything a junior album is expected to be: a refreshing new take on a bands sound that pushes past what they have created in the past, while maintaining that sound that made them popular. The Winter of Mixed Drinks does that with arena-rock sounds, a cleaner, more solid production and a majestic feeling that maintains throughout the album.

However, what has been lost in this process of advancing musically is a sense of feeling and emotion.

The Midnight Organ Fight, the bands sophomore album, entranced listeners and critics with painful lyrics of heartbreak, self hate, stubborn relationships and how “it takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm.” These impactful lyrics were only strengthened by lead singer and song writer, Scott Hutchinson.

However, with Mixed Drinks, Hutchinson seems to be… optimistic. Could it be because the breakup that brought about the songs in Organ Fight has long since passed? Could it be because he feels he needs to? Or is he just sick of being sad? I believe the latter, as the song “Not Miserable” will prove.

Every song on this album is has a force behind it that lays into the listener like a massive ship setting to sea for an epic adventure. This metaphor is appropriate, as almost every song seems to have a water theme to it.

“Man/Bag of Sand,” “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” and “Living in Colour” all have heavy aquatic themes such as swimming, drowning and setting off to sea.

The simple and catchy melodies that Frightened rabbit used to produce are now overwhelmed by waves of shoe gaze guitar sounds, reverb galore, immense orchestrations and odd audio samples. It can be said that they tried to hard to be grand, and could have tried hard to be honest with their own sound.

By no means should this album be discounted. It is still great, and will make for some great soundtrack and driving music. However, what fans loved about Frightened Rabbit is evolving. Let’s just hope the band remembers what they used to be, and makes a seaworthy sound worth setting sail to.