Sense Field has been around a long time, and the breakout success of 2002's Save Yourself wasn't a matter of them changing their style to cash in on the Jimmy Eat World flavor of the day. These guys have been something of an Emo band even as far back as '94's Killed for Less. In fact these guys would have fit in as comfortably in the 80s 90s as they do now in the 21st Century.

Living Outside gets off to a very promising start, in fact the first several tracks pack some pretty nice hooks and their addition of piano and swirling synths in the stead of second guitarist Rodney Sellers amicable departure gives these tunes their multi-decade compatibility. Ironically, the catch phrase on the fifth track "I Refuse" is that "change is good," because the next four songs are so sameish and unremarkable that they blend together like 20 minutes of filler - where choruses and verses are almost indistinguishable.

Only with their cover of the Cure's "Letter To Elise" does this mind-numbing generic portion of the album, come to a merciful close. The last track "Haunting" is also a nice departure from the same-old melody structures and chord progressions that plague the middle section of Living Outside. It's hard to say whether this new one will further Sense Fields ascendance into the mainstream, my guess is no, but stranger things have happened.

These guys have found themselves in a quandary, they're a little to bland and safe to make it as an Emo band, (it just doesn't pack the overwrought urgency that the Emosexuals are trading on), and at the same time it's not exactly top 40 material either. This band has created a fairly interesting and big sound that is part 80's synth, with Edge-like delay-heavy guitar riffs, combined with a songwriting approach that smacks of the Emo bands of the day. Sense Field may be marooned on a musical island that they have all to themselves - minus a big enough fan-base to ever be rescued.