Motion City Soundtrack-even if it kills me
January 18th 2010 07:25
Sickly sweet power pop punk is the best way to describe Motion City Soundtrack's disc "Even If It Kills Me". Songs about girls and love and tales of the heart which is a common theme among the pop punk fraternity. The problem I had on first listen of this album is that it was too sweet to digest. There is a million other pop punk bands out there that do this style better. But it feels like Motion City Soundtrack have tried to hard with this album. The lyrics border on pathetic romanticism, the music is cliched and the production is so polished it loses some of the edge that any punk rock band should have in their sound. Which is where the disappointment comes in. Having heard older tracks of the band, they are lot better than what this album delivers.
But it's not to say the songs are not catchy enough. They all have the right hooks to get you bopping your head while stuck in traffic, it's just that they are not memorable enough to warrant return listens to the album weeks or months down the road. 'Calling All Cops' being the only track that got stuck in my head. 'Antonia' for some reason sounds like a Ben Folds track with it's quirky lyrics and singer Justin Pierre sounding so much like Mr. Folds. 'The Conversation' is the albums token ballad featuring solo piano and a heart felt song about...you guess it..relationships.
The thing with this album is that it does enough to tick all the boxes for a power pop punk record, but doesn't manage to push itself to be better than what it could be. The songs do have that teenage romantic appeal and the is full of good riffs and hooks, but the whole thing sounds monotonous by album's end. I can only hope the band stick to their older catalogue when they come out to play 2010's Soundwave festival.
But it's not to say the songs are not catchy enough. They all have the right hooks to get you bopping your head while stuck in traffic, it's just that they are not memorable enough to warrant return listens to the album weeks or months down the road. 'Calling All Cops' being the only track that got stuck in my head. 'Antonia' for some reason sounds like a Ben Folds track with it's quirky lyrics and singer Justin Pierre sounding so much like Mr. Folds. 'The Conversation' is the albums token ballad featuring solo piano and a heart felt song about...you guess it..relationships.
The thing with this album is that it does enough to tick all the boxes for a power pop punk record, but doesn't manage to push itself to be better than what it could be. The songs do have that teenage romantic appeal and the is full of good riffs and hooks, but the whole thing sounds monotonous by album's end. I can only hope the band stick to their older catalogue when they come out to play 2010's Soundwave festival.
motion city soundtrack-even if it kills me
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