I first heard Motion City Soundtrack in 2003 when their debut I Am the Movie came out. The first single was the exceptionally catchy and witty “The Future Freaks Me Out,” a synth driven pop punk song with some seriously clever lyrical wordplay. In 2005 they released Commit This To Memory, which built on the success of their previous work, delivering great songs like “Everything Is Alright” and “Hold Me Down.” Their third record Even If It Kills Me was highly anticipated by me and lots of other fans who were ready to see what would come next. The result is a bit of a mixed bag. Even If It Kills Me finds Motion City Soundtrack still using the song elements that they mastered on their first two albums but the effect isn’t as great for some reason. The album was had two producers: Ric Ocasek of The Cars (who was behind the boards for Weezer’s classic self-titled “Blue” album) and Adam Schlesinger of pop-rock powerhouse Fountains of Wayne. Schlesinger’s influence can be prominently heard on “Where I Belong” which is probably the sunniest song on the record. The rest of it is good, but nothing really jumps out and the lyrics are kind of a downer with the exception of first official single “This Is for Real,” which kind of a love song. The band released a pretty funny video for today’s song but it hasn’t really been pushed as a single. Despite the title, “Broken Heart” is a actually a pretty poppy song and has one of the coolest synth lines on the record. Even If It Kills Me isn’t awful, but fails to live up to the bar set by Commit This To Memory. I’m sure it will grow on me with repeated listens. If you get the chance I would suggest catching MCS on tour this fall. They’ll be out with two of my favorite bands Mae and Anberlin. I’m sure that would and awesome show and it’s tours like this that make me wish I lived closer to a big city. Motion City Soundtrack - "Broken Heart"
No comments:
Post a Comment