There's a point in "Good And Ready"—the
opening track of Anti-Flag's ambitious new The Bright Lights Of America—where a disembodied
xylophone begins to ping in the background. Then bells start to peal. Within a
matter of seconds, a choir of little kiddies chimes in. And just as quickly,
they're gone—leaving a limp, rote punk song in their wake. Raise that to
the power of tubular bells, cellos, brass, timpani, and glockenspiel, and
you've got an idea of how severely Bright Lights' formula flounders. Too
much of the disc, like the histrionic "The Modern Rome Burning," swipes
singsong, folk-stoked stridency from Against Me! and American Steel; the rest
of it throws random orchestration at the wall and misses it altogether. Surprisingly,
Tony Visconti—the producer behind classic recordings by David Bowie, T.
Rex, and Morrissey, among others—helmed this mess. It's a shame he
couldn't sort the band's ideas out better. Bright Lights has odd bubbles of punk
brilliance—and yes, even convincing political outrage—trapped
within its overblown songs. But if Bright Lights is any kind of musical
barometer measuring the strength and focus of political dissent in America,
it's yet another small reason to be very afraid for the future.