Review: Plain White T’s

Plain White T’s
““Stop””
(Fearless Records)

“Stop” is infectious pop rock in the vein of Jimmy Eat World’s “Bleed American.”  Plain White T’s sounds (and looks) so young yet are quite polished in terms of musicianship.  The balance between all the instruments is a nice change from the often over exerted guitar that normally plagues his genre.  “Stop” starts with some fast paced pop punk then slows down about track 5 and becomes much more laid back.  I really dig track 5 “Leavin’” for its melancholy change of pace and excellent show of guitarmanship.

I would say Plain White T’s wear a number of different in terms of pop rock music because after “Leavin’” the rest of the album sort of teeters between the varying speeds and sounds found in power pop punk.  Eight of the songs could invoke full on dance and maybe one could even pull off the all important “cabbage patch.”

The other 4 songs are just those head bobbing deep songs.  I really dig the acoustic song “A Lonely September” because it’s flat out somber.  Okay, my major problem with this band is the lyrics.  95% of the songs are about chicks and how they make the Plain White T’s sad.  At least they don’t have songs named after numerous different chicks like Weezer, but they do seem to have issues with women.  They should try that “can I borrow a quarter to call my mom because she told me to call her when I met the girl of my dreams” line.