Media Review

Jack's Mannequin

The Glass Passenger (CD)

Sire Records
website | mySpace | pureVolume

Overall Rating:

9.5

Music Quality: 9.5

Production: 9.0

Originality: 8.5

When life gives you lemons people react in a multitude of ways. Some piss and moan, some cry themselves to sleep and some fight back in a frenzy of hopefulness. This “can’t get me down” optimism is deeply embedded on the “The Glass Passenger” which is a wild ride of piano-pop-rock that is as brave as vocalist/pianist Andrew McMahon. When push comes to shove “The Glass Passenger” isn’t just the pulp of lemons, water and sugar, it is the flavorful album that your taste buds have been missing and it will leave your mouth salivating.

There is so much I love about this album that it is hard for me to find a place to begin. First off, if you were a fan of Jack’s Mannequin’s “Everything in Transit” then it has been a long 3 years. However, you will be convinced that good things are indeed worth the wait. The band has really perfected their sound, a fuse of catchy and intelligent songwriting paired with magnificent piano (rock) arrangements. Each song on “The Glass Passenger” (14 in total, eff-yeah!) brings something different to the table that helps to blend the eclectic release into a unified powerhouse.

Whether Jack’s Mannequin brings the heat with dizzying keys and a guitar riffed filled “Bloodshot”, brings the lust with the smooth groove loop of “What Gets You Off?” or brings the infectious pop (don’t fret all you punk-rock princesses) with tracks like “Spinning” and “Miss California” – this album will surely get your blood pumping.

Conversely, when the band takes it slow in tracks such as, the reassuring “Orphans”, the extremely naked “Caves” (where McMahon’s vocals are particularly fragile and haunting) and the encouraging “Swim”, they do it with grace and strength. In the influential “Swim” JM demands us to meet our challenges head on, even when it seems impossible to stay afloat. The track explodes with hope. Lyrics like “You got to swim and swim when it hurts / The whole world is watchin’ you haven’t come this far to fall of the earth / The currents will pull you away from your love / Just keep your head above.” McMahon is able to sing with such sincerity that despite arguably cheesy lyrics he can still make you take him very seriously. He transforms this private dogma of sorts into a potent and inspiring ballad (not to mention it’s the perfect song for a post Beijing Phelps montage, not that we haven’t had our fill of those).

“The Glass Passenger” also takes some risks veering from the band’s first album. The hard hitting punk rock of “Suicide Blond” was a surprise with its forceful chorus and crashing guitars. This track, the hardest on the CD, is followed with the spacey bongo backed “Annie Use Your Telescope” which hypnotizes with its dreamy delivery. Both tracks, though a slight departures from “typical” JM, still play out well within the construct of the album as a whole.

In short, this release is bigger, bolder and more badass.

Jack’s Mannequin’s front man targets more then his personal battles (most noted his victory over leukemia) though that struggle is no doubt the fuel to his passionate display on this release. McMahon had hoped to create an album to “help someone get through a bad day”; it is safe to say mission accomplished and then some. As belted on the marvelously composed “Hammer and Strings”, “Give me something to believe in / A breath from the breathing”- buy this album and have a weapon against everything that gets you down. “The Glass Passenger” is a fresh blast of air in exhausted lungs and WILL DEFINIETLY be on my top ten list of 2008.

Déjà vu who? - Ben Folds (Five), Steel Train, Mae and Something Corporate

Happy Travelers – “Spinning”, “What Gets You Off”, “Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby)”, “Swim”, “The Resolution”, “Annie Use Your Telescope”, “Bloodshot”, “Drop Out – The So Unknown”… you can see where this is going.

reviewed by Heather Galbraith