It's obvious that Chris Carraba went through some life balancing experience while writing the songs for the So Impossible EP (Which happens to be my favorite offering from Dashboard.) This EP paved the way for A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar with the 'Hands Down' single. In my opinion, the addition of the full band tainted many of the songs, but we all know about the inescapable need of an artist to play around with their sound from time to time.
That being said, the songs prior to So Impossible are where I believe Chris picked up most of his fan base. After a casual listen to The Swiss Army Romance, you are left feeling like you just had your heart broken and the shit kicked out of you (why this is an enjoyable experience, I cannot describe.) Even more impressive is that this state of 'enjoyable depression' (for lack of a better word,) is achieved with only acoustic instruments.
When the band released 'Vindicated' for the Spider Man 2 soundtrack, I was very much impressed at how they took the sound of A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar and went a little farther into a direction which I believe sounds much better. Dusk and Summer, in my opinion, is an entire album based on the sound of 'Vindicated'.
I think the album is solid and have been listening to it constantly for the past two weeks. The addition of Adam Duritz to 'So Long, So Long' certainly adds some luster. Fans of Swiss Army Romance and The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most may be a bit disapointed, but I think most fans will agree that this album is still worth owning.