They came out with a new album last week, their first one in almost four years. Their last one was Forget and Not Slow Down in October 2009, a masterpiece that I chatter about in both this blog post and this one. Obviously I was excited from the moment they first mentioned that a new one was coming out...which was over a year ago, with an "In The Studio" video in May 2012. That was just cruel. They kept pushing the release date back until they finally settled on July 2 of this year. We'll just casually forget my...mild frustration at that.
I felt that, being an expert in Relient K matters and known for my perfectly reasonable and not at all overblown love and appreciation for their music, I was qualified to "officially" review their newest album, Collapsible Lung. I will be as objective as possible, which probably isn't that objective. But let's just pretend I am, okay? Okay.
I gave myself about a week to listen through the album so that I can judge it beyond my initial reaction (which was violent. Or maybe passionate is a better word. I didn't kill anyone, so that was good.)
Er...well, they might have deviated a little too much.
I'm not against pop music, but it's not my thing. I can appreciate the catchiness and emotion rush that pop music provides, but my personal preference is a much darker, heavier rock sound. Pop music seems to be all about partying and girls. Boooorrrrring. I'm an English major. I like all that ~deep~ stuff like symbolism and figurative language and clever uses of words. There aren't a lot of bands that do that well, but Relient K is the best I know.
So that's why I was worried. My favorite go-to band for creativity and good lyrics, not to mention a Christian message in there somewhere (a lot of times it's vague, but sometimes it's better that way. Sometimes), and they're putting out a couple of typical mainstream pop songs? Uh oh.
"But surely," I thought, "surely the whole album isn't like that. If anything, those two songs I heard at the concert will be good. But this is Relient K - the most they've ever let me down is waiting FOUR YEARS to make a new album."
I got really worried when they had a premier of "Part-Time Lover," one of the songs from the concert. I listened to it, excited to finally hear that Relient K sound I know and love, and I heard...clapping? Subdued electric guitar in a high register? I held out judgment until the chorus - you know, surely it would open up then, and get all those deep chords and full drum patterns that I like. But then the chorus came and I heard...a synthesizer? An organ (at least I think it's an organ - sounds like cheesy trumpets)? And the clappy/whatever beat is still going. I can't stand clapping in songs. Clapping is for concerts.
I keptwaiting for the song to grow, for the background beat to get more exciting, for the guitar to get louder and fuller, to have a more layered sound. But it never happened. The song sounded the same the whole way through. It didn't even build up when it sounded like it was about to. AGH.
At that point I thought, "This isn't going to be pretty."
Listening to the album when it came out, my initial reaction was "...what is happening?" And not an awestruck, excited-beyond-words, out-of-body-experience, delightful "what is happening," but rather a what-are-these-sounds-coming-out-of-my-speakers "what is happening."
Here, I'll give you a summary of the songs:
1. Don't Blink: hey, not bad. I'll take it.
2. Boomerang: ridiculously catchy, but the lyrics are the typical pop love song fare. So I just ignore the words and listen to the music (I'M IGNORING THE WORDS TO A RELIENT K SONG, SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT HERE.)
3. Lost Boy: gets stuck in my head all the time, but there's a lot of whistling and some usual stuff about dancing and "you give me all of the meaning in life, girl."
4. If I Could Take You Home: no. Just no. Again, very catchy. But creepy. "I'm nothing special, but if I could take you home, I'll be all that you need." Do you realize how creepy that sounds? This is like something by Big Time Rush. And that's a very, very bad thing, because I don't take BTR seriously.
5. Can't Complain: the most cliche-sounding song ever. But it's cute and encouraging, so...not a personal favorite but it's not bad either.
6. Gloria: the only good thing about this song is the drumbeat at the beginning. That's seriously it. Sorry, Relient K.
7. PTL (Part-Time Lover): see above paragraphs
8. Disaster: this one really grew on me, though I still have some issues with it.
9. When You Were My Baby: *shrug*
10. Sweeter: I can't stand this song. Again, sorry. I tried so hard, I really did.
11. Collapsible Lung: ding-ding! Good job, a song that typical of my favorite band. Definitely my favorite one. Style, lyrics, content, it's all there. Hooray.
So what exactly am I saying about this album? That I hate it? No.
It's not a bad album. In fact, I bet if you listened to it, you would like it. Relient K has been making music for a while, and they know what they're doing. It's obvious they're experienced and not afraid to expand their style and try new things. And Thiessen does a good job singing in any style, whether it's the gritty rock of their last album or the whimsical love song style of this album. That's impressive, to be so versatile.
And even I like listening to this album even though I'm not a big pop or love song person. It sounds great. Almost every song has gotten stuck in my head at some point this week.
"So...what's your problem, Anna?"
My problem is this: Collapsible Lung is missing almost all of the things that I like about Relient K. Most of the things that characterize the band, that set them apart from others and make them one-of-a-kind, aren't present.
Witty lyrics. I don't have the actual album case yet (issue with shipping or something) so I haven't been able to peruse it, but rumor is that Thiessen worked with several mainstream songwriters to write the songs for this album. That's like J.K. Rowling asking Stephenie Meyer to help her out on her new (nonexistent) Harry Potter sequel. Sure, the lyrics are good, and there are a couple of quirky or cute phrases, but it's not...poetry.
"Anna, it's music. It's not supposed to be poetry." Yeah, I know, but a lot of Thiessen's lyrics have been akin to poetry. I'm not kidding. He's good at what he does. But that's really hard to find in this album, if it's even present at all.
Honesty. Relient K isn't afraid to get down and dirty, as evidenced by F&NSD. There was some harshly honest stuff in there. I'm not saying their songs have to be bitter and depressing, but when all your songs are about meeting girls and falling in love with girls and telling girls you love them, it starts sounding superficial after a while. There is nothing wrong with those songs, but filling your album with them? I get bored and start to wonder if there's anything to it at all.
Grittiness. Since MMHMM in 2005, their albums have had a good mixture of love songs, confrontational songs, and introspective songs. That's what I appreciate about rock - it's not afraid to get in your face, to get you worked up. That's why I come back to those songs all the time, because they move me and make me think. The best kind of music is the kind that makes you think. I find myself tuning out Collapsible Lung because it's the same stuff I hear over and over everywhere else. I get it, some people listen to music to feel good and be entertained. But Relient K isn't that kind of band, at least until now.
Christian message. Relient K has never liked to be labeled as a "Christian" band, but the Christian themes in their songs are undeniable. They have a good balance of not being just another worship or contemporary Christian band, but still injecting their songs with the kind of hope Christianity offers, or a redemptive theme. Yeah, they have their love songs like everyone else, but even those have a quality of wholesomeness that sets them above the usual mainstream patterns. The only references to Christianity/God/whatever, vague or otherwise, that I found were fleeting lyrics in "Don't Blink" (been making plans and drawing maps/I plan to take the righteous path/and hope and pray it leads me back/to all the happiness I had) and the song "Collapsible Lung" (the most blatant reference being "I'm feeling backwards when I'm trying the most/and I hope I haven't heard the last words from the Holy Ghost/'cause I think that I'm supposed to be well on my way by now"). Everything else has no hint of that anywhere, unless I just haven't listened close enough.
I understand that maybe the band wanted to try something new. They're always pushing their boundaries and offering different styles. And making the same kind of music for 13 years probably gets old. I don't blame them for experimenting with a more pop sound.
But it seems like Relient K has moved from a Christian rock band to a secular pop group, and that's a dangerous direction. The world has plenty of pop music. But it needs more of the message it needs to hear over that mainstream clamor. Instead of speaking over that clamor, Relient K's new album only adds to it.
The band still has its heart, but it seems to have lost most of its soul.