Jon Bunch can do no wrong. During his 13-year tenure as frontman of the seminal rock act Sense Field, his lyrics were always overwhelmingly hopeful, even when he sang of dire times; his voice—at times like that of a far more seasoned and rangy Scott Stapp—always seemed to give the listener a light at the end of the tunnel. And while Bunch carries over all these qualities to his debut with Further Seems Forever, it's obvious that he and the rest of the band (which already had the entire album recorded sans vocals when he joined) were on two different pages during the making of this album. While the songs themselves seem light years ahead of How To Start A Fire—heading in sort of progressive post-emo direction as opposed to more emo/hardcore-ish territory—Bunch seems a bit lost trying to navigate through the band's often dull, if non-existent hooks. The band's previous singers seemed rather comfortable with the rather hookless approach, but Bunch is a true frontman—trained in taking in the listener slowly and then, as the hook comes, wholly consuming them with his live-sized vocals—and on many occasions during this 10-song affair, he has no true place to do that and seems to scramble to be a singer he's not. That said, on the track's opener, "Light Up Ahead," the band wisely allows just the right elements of Sense Field's classic "Building" release to seep into the mix, in turn creating what is far and away FSF's best (and most accessible and radio-ready) song to date. While Hide Nothing is far from a flawless album, it is FSF's finest hour to date, and it shows a band that could truly take the world by storm if it hangs on to a vocalist (particularly the outstanding Jon Bunch) for more than one album.
Editors' ratings — Doug 3.5/5, David 4/5
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