Motion City Soundtrack -Commit This To Memory

Sun 18th Sep, 2005 in Music Reviews

When Motion City Soundtrack announced their new album would be produced by Blink-182 drummer Mark Hoppus, many fans decreed it as a sell-out. But this was not a deal moulded in some record company boardroom. This was a deal started in the same place all great music deals are made; backstage at a gig. So it was that the second Motion City Soundtrack album, Commit This To Memory was born.

Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, the band play a kind of pseudo-punk. That is, it’s angry and loud, but its also well thought out, articulate, and layered, the way only a five piece punk band can. The lyrics are generally complex and verbose, and are all sung rather than shouted, two very un-punk aspects of music. Lead singer Justin Pierre brings an almost Ben-Gibbard-like (Death Cab For Cutie) depth of emotion to his vocals, which almost play against the punk music behind them. In the end, the punk atmosphere comes mostly from the speed and tempo, and from the hooky, heavy guitar work.

Opening song Attractive Today sets the bar pretty high, being a 100 second blast of quick guitars, oscillating synth and wild drum work. So high, in fact that most of what follows can’t help but fall short. Major single Everything Is Alright is next, an extremely radio friendly number with big hooks and inoffensive themes. When You’re Around continues the hook heavy sound, while Resolution slows the tempo right down for a ballad, a sure sign of a pop-punk band (fortunately the acoustic guitar is yet to be seen).

And so it goes on. Feel Like Rain, Make Out Kids, and Time Turn Fragile go by without making any real impact. Let’s Get Fucked Up And Die opens with Pierre shouting the song’s title in a declarative fashion, which makes an impression, but its hardly vitriolic, and quickly slips back into comfortable mode. Together We’ll Ring In The New Year marks the second ballad of the album and a possible anthem for end-of-year parties to come. Finally, album closer Hold Me Down acts as a bookend, a five minute marathon which is almost the complete opposite of the opening track at the other end of the album, and fades out with some guitar feedback and distortion.

Punk music is, by its very nature, meant to be angry, loud, and above all, offensive. The homogenisation of punk music over the last 30 years has resulted in a new breed of punk music; radio-friendly and coarse-language-free, this new wave of punk bands are generally one layer of dark clothes and makeup away from having boy-band style good looks. Motion City Soundtrack epitomise this new punk sound. Its links to old school punk are by name alone and it’s a shining, near-perfect example of this newer, cleaner school of punk. It’s hard to imagine any authority figure being threatened by this music; it’s easy to listen to, hook heavy and tuneful, and almost completely inoffensive. However these factors are obviously all subjective, and if clean punk is your thing, you’ll find it in spades on this album.