Further Seems Forever: New album next week, and how I discovered them 13 years ago

I found out last night that Further Seems Forever has a new album, Penny Black, releasing next week. You'll find two new songs from it imbedded below. But first, how I discovered them...

I honestly haven't followed FSF since 2001 or so, and their last album was in 2004. The original line-up only lasted 3 years, 1998-2001, and I discovered them in the middle of that time.

 In the Fall of 1999 I took a road trip with some friends from Birmingham, AL to Pensacola, FL to see the Juliana Theory in concert. I knew very little about the band, but had discovered them in May of 1999 when Understand This is a Dream was released. I was obsessed with them and that album all summer. And while they were the reason we drove to Pensacola, I am not going to mention them any more in this post.

The bands playing that night had very little following at the time, and the show was at a hole-in-the-wall venue that was hard to find. (You could say that about 90% of the shows I went to in the 90's). We were early, and when we arrived we went straight to the merch table. The guy working the table was super SHORT and wearing an Elliott Kentucky shirt. I immediately had to talk to him because I was really into Elliott at the time.

I don't remember what we talked about, but I was shocked when he then walked on stage 30 minutes later with his band: Further Seems Forever. I remember very little of their show, but I did buy their split EP based on their performance. I would have never imagined that Chris Carrabba and his solo project Dashboard Confessional would become the poster child of MTV.

FSF released The Moon is Down in 2001 and I thought it was great. What was crazy is that Carrabba had already left the band by the time the LP came out. I saw FSF at Cornerstone 2001 with their new vocalist (I didn't know his name at the time) and I thought it was terrible. Because of that I completely lost interest in the band and was shocked when I finally heard 2003's How to Start a Fire- I was shocked because it was good and arguably much better instrumentally than the debut. I lost track of them again for awhile.

FSF slightly regained my interest because of the album artwork for 2004's Hide Nothing. Unfortunately I thought the artwork was far better than the music, and FSF's third album with a third lead singer did nothing for me.

Fast forward to 2011, when I heard Carrabba had rejoined the band for some shows and I was inexplicably very interested. I honestly hated Dashboard Confessional for the lyrical content. But for some reason I thought a subpar Carrabba solo project and a subpar last couple of years for FSF could somehow reunite with a spark.

That is where I stand right now. I am very interested in this new FSF album, but not sure if I'll buy it. What do you think of their two new songs?