Motion City Soundtrack -Even If It Kills Me

Thu 11th Oct, 2007 in Music Reviews

Motion City Soundtrack have some pretty big expectations to live up to. After the success of 2005’s Commit This To Memory with their brand of keyboard-laden pop punk, Even If It Kills me was voted Alternative Press’ most anticipated album of 2007. So the real question is, can MCS successfully fill these expectations?

As the opening chords are hammered out for Fell In Love Without You, that familiar MCS sound becomes instantly recognisable. It’s just as poppy as ever, and the keyboards still play a very prominent and key role in their style. Or so it would seem, before This Is For Real gently bumbles bass lines through the subs for a fairly soft (by their standards) number. The stripped back and slightly more downbeat approach may be due, in part to the more serious nature of the song, a commentary on singer Justin Pierre’s battle with the bottle with lines such as “This time I mean it, I’m coming clean” and “I had some nightmares / clawing at my skin and bones / I nearly did explode.”

Much of the album seems to loosely deal with said battle, along with stories of the trials and tribulations of life and love. In many ways it’s a darker kind of album for the Minnesota five piece, particularly in regards to the lyrical content. Musically it’s not hugely different to what you might come to expect, though there is the occasional – œmellow’ moment.

The Conversation is very Ben Folds-esque with its simple piano and vocals-only delivery, and backed up by the first radio single, Broken Heart. A wise choice, it is one of the more – œtypical’ MCS tracks off the album. It’s fast paced, melodic and has you humming along within the first 30 seconds.

Producing duties for album number three were trusted to Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Ric Ocasek of The Cars fame. Given that the producers’ of this record are of high pop pedigree it was no doubt in the best hands possible. Other big names came in the form of Rachel Minton ( Zolof The Rock and Roll Destroyer ), Max Bemis ( Say Anything ) and Shawn Harris ( The Matches ), all lending their vocals to Hello Helicopter and Point of Extinction.

Even If It Kills Me is a great piece of pop punk from one of the better bands to come out of the scene at the moment. It’s got some great songs, but at best it is only on par with, and is unlikely to outshine their previous work. It would be a bit of a copout to call it disappointing, though for the most anticipated album of the genre for 2007 it’s probably bound to leave a few people a little underwhelmed.