If you loved "Last Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy", I'm afraid that this album bears only a very slight resemblance to that punchy classic rock effort. With "Breaking Away", Jacobsz has ditched light catchy tunes and sing-along refrains for full-on alternative rock - a sub-genre that I think he prefers.
There are no radio one-hit-wonders on this album; "Breaking Away" is one complete body of work that requires a total listening experience.
The tempo does become slightly monotonous and it did take a few listens before I latched on. Each song, however, as with his previous albums, is intricately constructed with various sounds entwined. Jacobsz is not the most versatile of vocalists, but he more than makes up for this with his work on the guitar - playing to his strengths.
As an alternative rock album, emphasis is largely on some mean guitar riffs - so much so that in place of catchy lyrics for the chorus, intro song The Other Way is riff-driven. A similar structure runs throughout the album with the guitar taking centre stage on "Breaking Away".
While many a band structures an album with at least two or three songs likely to get some radio air play, this album largely flips the bird to commercial radio. It is what it is, and that's rich alternative rock.
