The Lyndsay Diaries - The Tops of Trees Are On Fire (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

The Lyndsay Diaries

The Tops of Trees Are On Fire (2002)

The Militia Group


Hi, I'm emo.

I think that is really what this CD should titled.... but the "band" name (which is only really one person... hmmm... that's not too similar to Dashboard Confessional) isn't too far off: Lyndsay Diaries. It might have been named "Emo Diaries" if that wasn't already taken.

The one good thing that I can say about this cd is that is has really good artwork in the booklet. Yeah, I know that is not really the cd, but that's the best thing I can think of about the cd right now. If the cd was anything like the booklet, it would be in good company.

Frankly, I found this whole cd annoying. I found it more like a nondescript rip-off of Dashboard Confessional, more or less. But the vocals were a lot more annoying. And the lyrics were so "emo" that I often found myself laughing along to the songs instead of identifying with his "heartache" and "angst." Track three, "Mixtapes and Memories," starts off with the line "I promise this won't be another song about being alone, but all I feel is regret and I can't pick up the telephone." Of course, the song IS about being alone, about missing girls, etc. Song two actually has a chorus about wearing thrift store clothes...so it all adds up in the end... aching love, inability to call girls on the phone, wearing thrift store clothes, yes, this is the second coming of the emo prodigy.

Ok, so I think I have bashed this enough right now. It's not so much that the Lyndsay Diaries contains no talent; it's just that these songs don't seem very orginal to me, and they all seem kind of similar. I think that there really could be some talent here, but it just needs to be used in some other way, something more original and exciting. The songs themselves aren't terrible, they just aren't anything I would go out of my way to hear, or anything that would stand out among all of the other bands just like this.