About 5 years ago Dashboard Confessional played a show in my home town at a venue that was known for Country Western music and Karaoke. The handful of his early fans that showed up were not disappointed. It wasn't long after this that Chris Carrabba and company were one of the chief poster children for a genre of music people started calling Emo. On this his third album Dashboard is surfing a wave a musical movement that is fast becoming as popular as Rap. Emo bands are coming out of the woodwork these days, to the point that even the most historically hard-core punk bands are popping up their approach to cash in on Emo's newfound glory days.

A Mark finds Carrabba at his most accessible yet, mixing mainstream hooks into his sensitive-pretty-boy diary-angst lyrics, and fashioning a musical backdrop that fits more comfortably into radio-friendly territory. The album's first single "Hands Down" succeeds seamlessly, but much of the record makes it clear that Carrabba's writing, like much of emo, is interminably adolescent. It's like he's being seduced by the mainstream big-time, while desperately trying to hold onto to some romantic idea of his past integrity. He's now writing more memorable songs, largely because he's learning how to construct hooks and melodies, but the incessant need to artlessly spill the contents of his heart make for a hit and miss new record.

Though this album is certain to sell well, Carrabba's conversion into the frontman of a rockband as opposed to his proclivity as a lone troubadour isn't always a good thing. It will be his real mission to adapt his old instinct for adolescent ramblings into career musician capable of maturing with his audience. I'd say the smart money is on Mark.