The Matches' guerilla-style self-promotion for
2003's E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals ignited a bidding war that found nü-punk stable
Epitaph making the sweetest deal. Oddly, though, while Epitaph's support let
the Oakland, California quartet build a fan base among Warped Tour throngs, the
Matches' sound ultimately aims to snare those throngs' older, hipper siblings.
Like 2006's Decomposer, A Band In Hope pushes the Matches
further from the scene that spawned it—although production credits from
John Feldmann (Story Of The Year) and Mike Green (Paramore) might indicate
otherwise. Standouts like "AM Tilts" and "Their City" jerk and shimmer with
'80s funk-punk fervor. "If I Were You" and "Future Tense" owe as much to Nick
Lowe and Elvis Costello as to My Chemical Romance and Head Automatica. And the
four-part harmonies and tympani swells in "Darkness Rising" sound like they
fell off a Danny Elfman soundtrack. If "punk" means going your own weird way, A
Band In Hope
embodies the term. But as the Matches' defining statement, it no longer
applies.