American Authors - Come Too Far
One hit wonders. We’ve heard them, we’ve loved them, but we don’t quite know where they really went. There’s hundreds upon thousands of one hit wonders; bands or soloists who blew up with one song only to never resurface in popular music ever again. The Plain White T’s, Gotye, The Verve, the list goes on and on but the one artist I am focusing on today is none other than American Authors.
American Authors, originally called The Blue Pages, is a roots-rock group from Boston that’s composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Zac Barnett, bassist Dave Rublin, and drummer Matt Sanchez. They are best known for their huge hit titled Best Day of My Life, which came off of their 2013 debut album Oh, What a Life. It was written to invoke feelings of happiness and hope coming down from the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary shooting of 2012 and it did just that because the masses took it and ran. Commercials, school dances, radio stations, you name it and this song was constantly looping throughout 2013 and 2014. I was just in elementary school but even I remember how much of a stranglehold this song had on people for the longest time then with a gust of wind, American Authors seemed to just vanish. I never heard about them or their music again, as they had no more consistent hits or notably popular projects like rivaling artists such as Bastille, Fun, and Maroon 5 did. They sort of fell off the wayside and into lower-level scenes of the industry after the initial wave of Best Day of My Life faded out.
However, contrary to many’s presumptions, American Authors has been steadily continuing their journey as a band with consistent releases and now that a decade has passed since their debut, they’ve released a fresh single that they call Come Too Far.
“Thunder is singin' through the rain, shaking the ground beneath my feet again. The storm will pass, our foundation's born to make it. We're built to last even when we're breaking” opens up the song in a whispered vocal style courtesy of Barnett, giving listeners an inkling of the song’s themes and foundations right off the bat. He carries through this anthem-esque piece with other inspiring lines that state things such as “Ooh, we've come too far. We've come too far to turn back now”, Sunshine is rising up over the ridge and if we hold on tight, the light will let us in again. From dusk to dawn, all the darkness slowly fading, We're hangin' on, even when we're breaking”, and “'Cause the past has passed, we sang that song, we've danced that dance, we’re moving on. We fought that fight, bled that blood, we rode that ride, we're moving on”.
These lyrical fragments indicate that Come Too Far is a song written about overcoming past traumas and burdens and the sentiment of healing and pushing forward onto bigger and better things life has to offer. This is a consistent concept within American Authors’ songwriting, as they themselves have even stated that they make “music for the hopeful”.
From a sound perspective, however, Come Too Far certainly has room for improvement. As I said, Barnett’s approach at singing in this piece is through a whispered sort of technique that just does not bode well on the ears and the added vocal autotune and distortion only makes it worse for wear. It’s a grand shame because Barnett can sing quite well without all of these added effects – it is really just unneeded and a mis-step by producers.
The song’s redeeming factors that don’t make it completely unpalatable, though, reside in my favorite instruments: the guitars. The bass guitar contributions from Rublin are heavy and prominent despite the song’s general synth pop style, reigning similarities to the practices of fellow bassists Henry Dillon (Surf Curse), Daniel Tichenor (Cage the Elephant), Sean Gadd (Grouplove), and Simon Gallup (The Cure).
Furthermore, there is a guitar solo courtesy of Barnett that closes out Come Too Far in an electrifying and pastoral mode; either of these “saving graces” come across as out of place when taking the other components of the song into account but they are justifiable, as they make the song acceptable to listening ears.
After the release of Come Too Far, American Authors has a plethora of shows for their Call Your Mother Tour this fall in cities such as Iowa City, Fort Collins, Gloucester, and more as well as a set at Miami’s annual Rock Boat XXIV in January of 2025. As of publishing, no other announcements have been made in regard to other music or dates for American Authors but Come Too Far along with its preceding singles that are also fairly new is available for listen wherever you find your music.