It’s kind of ironic that the first song on ‘Everything In Transit‘, ‘Holiday From Real’ starts off with the lines “she thinks I’m much too thin, she asks me if I’m sick.” If the irony has passed you by, just weeks after this record was completed former Something Corporate frontman and the brains behind Jack’s Mannequin, Andrew McMahon, was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. Much has been made of his battle with the disease, so it’s not something I need to focus on here too much, although it is worth noting many lines on this album reference illness or a sense of sickness, even though McMahon had no idea he was so ill.
After putting SoCo on hold, Jack’s started up. In essence there’s very little between the two bands – both base their sound around Andrew’s strong vocals, a piano and a sugary vocal hook. However, Jack’s Mannequin are arguably that little bit darker. The track ‘I’m Ready’ with its “my life has become a boring pop song and everyone is singing along” refrain practically sums up the thought process behind this record. However, while certainly a bit dirtier lyrically and mentally, Jack’s have singles by the bag full. ‘Holiday From Real’ has a huge chorus, ‘I’m Ready’ could probably have fit on the first SoCo record and ‘La La Lie’ is another that will have you singing along in no time. ‘Dark Blue’ and ‘Miss Delaney’ are straight up pop songs with massive choruses, while ‘Kill The Messenger’ is based around the piano a lot more and re-tells the songwriter’s train of thoughts from escaping his own personal demons.
Fans of SoCo will love this as there’s very little between the two bands. I loved both SoCo records when they first came out, but both have suffered with a case of dying on their arse over time. I think there’s a musical maturity here that will stand the test of time. ‘Everything In Transit‘ is an album with tales to tell; it’s not just a disposable pop record made for radio. The ‘singles’ are better written and put together and Andrew’s vocals are more believable and less sugary, although still very poppy. It’ll be interesting to see how Maverick push this CD when Andrew becomes fully fit once again.
www.jacksmannequin.com
Maverick
Paul