One year after a teaser video was released, PATRICK STUMP‘s ‘Soul Punk’ has finally arrived, delving into the unknown and occupying a niche genre – but while it’s admirable when an artist tries something new, sometimes it just doesn’t work out as well as they hoped;
What is definitely clear throughout is that Patrick Stump is a talented man, having engineered and made this album entirely of his own volition – some of the pop hits he’s written are outstanding: ‘This City‘ is easily the most accessible song on the album and a good choice as lead single, and ‘Spotlight (New Regrets)’ is Stump’s personal masterpiece, but it’s track 6 ‘Run Dry (X Heart X Fingers)’ that’ll be the best thing to come off of this record. It’s an 8 minute long song that meanders through Stump’s influences and truly embodies the name and genre of ‘Soul Punk’.
While those songs mentioned above are all well and good, the vast majority of the album is a bit of an organized mess – there’s a distinct lack of sing-along moments, and that in turn affects the longevity. ‘Greed’ may be the biggest culprit with so much going on that your senses are battered, while ‘Dance Miserable’ is a song suited to an accidental 3am listen to an obscure radio station, but it’s songs like ‘Allie’ that provide the true downfall of this album – rather than embodying Soul Punk, it takes it too literally, and the solo towards the end is probably the most confusing thing on the record. It bounces aimlessly between genres without crossing bridges between them, and unfortunately the rest of the album follows suit.
It’s difficult not to admire Patrick Stump, for both what he’s done in his career and the effort he’s put in over the past year to get this album completed, but unfortunately the approach would likely have never worked no matter who was in charge – and while fan girls are going to lap this up, the harsh reality is that even with its one or two shining moments, ‘Soul Punk’ just isn’t that great.
CHRIS MARSHMAN