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Switchfoot’s big break came in 2001, when the band scored several songs on the Walk to Remember soundtrack. The general market took notice, and now waits to see what Switchfoot can come up with next. The answer is the album The Beautiful Letdown, which is their most mature and fully-realized work to date.

The title track tackles both celebrity and the idea of being "aliens and strangers", as frontman Jon Foreman sings "I was trying to fit in until I found out / I don’t belong here." This personal realization is paralleled to the church later in the song, as Foreman tells us "We are a beautiful letdown / painfully uncool / the church of the dropouts, the losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools / we are a beautiful letdown."  "Ammunition" features a hook-filled chorus with just enough guitar grit to endear it to rock connoisseurs.  "Gone" is a summer-style pop song that owes a nod to the Chili Peppers. "Monday Comes Around" is jaunty and optimistic, while "Adding to the Noise" bemoans the rapid pace of culture and says "If we’re adding to the noise / turn off this song." Album closer "24" soars on a theme of God bringing life.

Switchfoot has been given a nice budget to work with, which may turn out to be a liability. While the album is filled with well-played pop/rock, it also sounds canned and devoid of emotion. A reliance on computer-generated beats rarely works, instead pushing the album toward more of a generic sound.

The band has reached where they’ve been trying to go. They’re now a slightly-alternative pop outfit that has a technologically superior and tightly played album in The Beautiful Letdown. It’s very accessible, and that may have been their goal. It’s not a classic, but it’s easily Switchfoot’s best yet.

John Wilson 11/8/02