Review Summary: Matt Thiessen's pop punk juggernauts blend the best of their two previous efforts to craft their best album yet, powerful, emotion-laced and true Relient K.
There were some who said that 2007's
Five Score And Seven Years Ago was a step backwards for the Ohio quintet. After the well-received punk-pop endeavour
mmhmm, the return to a more optimistic, witty and sometimes comedic style of music and lyricism was thrown out prematurely as a regression, a loss of maturity for a band which had seemed so promising. However, with the release of
Forget And Not Slow Down, it becomes more evident that Relient K’s musical trend revolves around frontman Matt Thiessen’s relationship status, and that
Five Score was a reflection on Matt’s attitude towards life in 2007; a happy, fallen-in-love head-over-heels young adult who was perfectly content in every which way you can imagine. But this is not the same age, and following the (unfortunate) breaking off of his engagement, it’s clear that Relient K have benefited as a whole via this series of events, as
FANSD is quite possibly their best album yet.
The album takes a trip through both some classic Relient K territory and some not necessarily innovative but definitely interesting new sounds. The title track – notably the first title track to ever exist on a Relient K record - displays the band’s traditional pop punk stylings to a tee, an upbeat, hook-filled radio hit with a signature blend of piano, acoustic & electric guitar. Tracks such as ‘Part Of It’, ‘If You Believe Me’ and ‘This Is The End’ hark back to the days of mmhmm, although with a little less grit, and ‘Therapy’ – one of the best tracks on the album – can best be imagined as a
Five Score song with less happy and more breakup, with a fast-paced piano backdrop and stick-in-your-head chorus.
However, just because there’s some traditional RK doesn’t mean they haven’t looked at developing their sound at the same time. ‘Savannah’ can be described as an experience similar to that of being sat down in an IMAX theatre and watching an enthralling sunset in an African paradise. The verses of ‘I Don’t Need A Soul’ feature a bouncy Owl City styled riff (not particularly shocking given what seems to be recent contact between Matt Thiessen and Adam Young of Owl City himself), and ‘Candlelight’ is an amusing indie-pop tale of an unmatchable girl. ‘Over It’ is a magnificent, laid back jazzy song which could easily have been co-written by John Mayer. ‘Sahara’, the most guitar-driven song on the album and also the heaviest, cuts the chorus off earlier than expected to really hammer in the song’s darker themes (the triple guest vocalists of Tim Skipper, Matt McDonald and Aaron Gillespie don’t harm the song either). The variety shown in these songs really demonstrates that they can branch out from the pop/rock format and embrace a wider sound while maintaining their integrity as a band.
One of the more innovative ideas on the album comes in the form of one intro and three outros to various songs. Although none of them are notable as songs on their own, and won’t be particularly helpful if you’ve got your shuffle button on, they do a very good job of reinforcing the structure of
FANSD, making it into a truly cohesive album. They bridge a few important shifts in style, and serve their purpose in putting a little distance between the songs.
Beyond musical analysis, though, the fact remains that Relient K IS Matt Thiessen. Without him the band would be almost a non-entity, as its mood and lyrical themes depend entirely on his latest year and a half of relationships and life experiences. But you know what?
It’s not an issue.
Matt Thiessen is quite possibly one of the most skilled young songwriters around, and while there’s nothing of immense deviation on the record that will make it into a classic, his lyricism and ability to convey emotion and meaning through both song and band are hard to rival in a world so full of clichés and copycats. The themes may be serious, but Thiessen’s uncommon wit shines through like always, with examples such as ‘If You Believe Me’ (“I’m here wondering what could you be thinking/Though I know you’re there thinking that I wonder that all the time”) and ‘Forget And Not Slow Down’ (“I’ll watch the glint in my eye/shine off the spring in my step/And it could be blinding depending on the amount of you that I reflect”).
Forget And Not Slow Down will not be an album for the ages, but it’s everything you sense the band has wanted to be for a long time. Take the maturity and punk leanings of
mmhmm, the production and pop/rock hooks of [i]Five Score, and you have yourself
FANSD. Although Matt Thiessen may still be trying to get over his breakup, it’s clear his commitment to the band is unwavering, as
Forget And Not Slow Down is the best Relient K album yet and becomes the new high point in an amazing career for a group who once sang about horses and Star Wars.
To Listen: Forget And Not Slow Down, Sahara, Savannah
