By When you think about the state of Minnesota, great music isn’t normally the first thing that comes to mind. But the North Star State has been home to multi-platinum music acts like Prince, Johnny Lang, Bob Dylan and Soul Asylum, and its newest export, Motion City Soundtrack, has the potential to be added to that list.
The Minneapolis five-piece hit pop-punk gold with the single
“Everything Is Alright” off its 2005 sophomore album, “Commit This To Memory.” The song put the band on the map, and landed it prime touring slots with arena-filling acts like Fall Out Boy and the All-American Rejects on the Vans Warped Tour.
But on its most recent release, “Even If It Kills Me,” which was released last Tuesday, the band has drifted away from the fast, catchy guitar riffs and sugary sweet hooks that it is known for and opted for a more mature, melodic sound. The results are both enjoyable and disappointing.
The album kicks off with “Fell In Love With You.” This was a smart choice to start the album off with because it’s one of the few “Commit This To Memory”-esque tracks on the disc. It starts off with fast guitars and lots of synth and leads into a sweet hook.
“This Is For Real” is the hero single for the album after “Broken Heart” failed to impress. This song is a lot slower in tempo than some of the band’s previous singles, but its extremely catchy chorus makes up for that. The video for this song is already playing on mtvU, and a lot of the success of this album could depend on how much this song is picked up nationwide.
The band’s change in sound becomes evident on its fourth track, “Last Night,” and fifth track, “Calling All Cops.” “Last Night” is a slow, melodic ballad with the synthesizer surprisingly absent. “Calling All Cops” is a slightly faster song, but appears to never emerge from the chorus. The whole song has that echo feel that bands mostly utilize during the song’s hook.
Oddly, the band hides its strongest tracks at the end of the album. “Hello Helicopter” is the group’s new sound – at its strongest. It starts off with a Coldplay-eqse intro with Pierre and a piano, but then the synth and guitars kick in and it becomes a catchy, melodic single with a strong chorus.
“Even If It Kills Me” is not Motion City Soundtrack’s strongest album, yet it shows the band can put out some solid sounds despite its growing pains. This band knows how to write strong, catchy dance songs, and even though it didn’t do that as much as desired on this album, its strong fan base and fun live shows ensure that it will have many more chances to do so.
