An Eclectic Brand of Pop Rock
Posted July 01, 2013
By username2,
After bringing us one of the band's most personal, and best, albums to date, Relient K has returned 4 years later to a more upbeat and fun style that might be seen by some long-time fans as a sell-out move. While I am one of those long-time fans, I don't think this album is all that bad. It's by no means there best effort to date, but it is a fun summer album that is ment to make you feel good and it does that rather well.
Relient K's last album, Forget and Not Slow Down, came from a dark time in lead singer Matt Theissen's life. From what I understand, his ex-fiancee left him after thinking that he was cheating on her. That album felt like a working out process of what happened and also installed the idea of a silver lining waiting at the end. It was thought provoking, moving, and was one of the best albums to come out that year. Fast forward 4 years to the present day and the new album, Collapsible Lung, has more of an upbeat vibe to it that I felt was needed. The band has changed their style once again and now are experimenting with different pop sounds which makes every track on this album unique. No one song sounds like the other which is great as it lends a sense of variety to the overall album.
However, there are some problems present. One of which is that the lyrics can be hit or miss. There are some good lyrics that offer that brand of Releint K satire we know all to well, yet there are some lyrics that don't sound like something the band would write ever. The reason for this is that there were a bunch of outside writers who got co-writing credits on most of the songs, mostly people who have written songs for mainstream artists like Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga.
Collapsible Lung might be a bit polarizing for Relient K fans. It's not among the best akbums the band has made, but it has a sense of fun to it that is well deserved after the subject matter of their last album. The band experiments a lot with different pop rock sounds and it mostly works for them even if some of the lyrics sound really bad coming out of Matt Theissen's mouth. I'm sure this album will make it onto some people's summer playlists, it sure will be on mine.
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