Plain White T’s

All That We Needed (Fearless)
by Jessica Parker

Their sophomore album with a new line-up proves to be another treatment of catchy power-pop with lyrics raising social issues like suicide. The Chicago band’s songs are mostly fun and danceable, but they’re not afraid to get dark (see “Breakdown”). In fact, some of their last tour’s proceeds went towards suicide prevention and mental illness causes. That aside, there’s nothing wholly original on this album, with songs that are reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World, but then switch gears to the Ramones and even Bon Jovi.

There are many different sounds to Plain White T’s, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. All of their songs rhyme a lot, and that coupled with their vocals sung along to the exact drum beat makes the songs a bit stilted. The first track, “All That We Needed,” and also “Sad Story” and “Last Call,” show off their best musical and lyrical skills. They top off their album with “Hey There Delilah,” the acoustic track that every pop-punk band seems to attach to their albums in an effort to show their sensitive side, but it just tells me that they’re trying to reach out to those emo kids, too. In all, All That We Needed is fun to bop to, and hopefully, the act will come together flawlessly on their next album. They’re almost there.
(www.fearlessrecords.com)