kylecrowe
My Dinosaur Life
Motion City Soundtrack seems to be one of the few bands that still understands the concept of an album. In what is sadly a dying art, Motion City Soundtrack recently put out another great album, their fourth. For me, being able to emotionally relate to an album as a whole is what makes it special. Nowadays people buy single songs or maybe a few, but very rarely do people look at 10-15 songs and think of them as a single piece of work.
The first few lines of the album (It’s been a good year, a good new beginning
I’m through with the old school, so let’s commence the winning) hit home to me. Although they recorded the song months ago, it came out in mid January and couldn’t be more true for me.
The rest of the CD is put together beautifully, produced by Mark Hoppus, this album seems to be a collection of all their best work from their first 3 CD’s. Hoppus also produced their 2nd album, and the similarities are clear, as both CD’s open with a tone-setting, introductory, and ultimately, personal favorite song. The song “Pulp Fiction” is strikingly similar to the keyboard heavy “Time Turned Fragile,” also off their sophomore release.
The most upbeat song on the album, “History Lesson” could easily fit on their first album, I Am The Movie, as it sounds much like their oldies “Boombox Generation” or “Don’t Call it a Comeback.” Quirky lyrics such as “I have apologized a billion times, when I’ve gone off the wall like Buster Rhymes” remind me of “The Future Freaks Me Out.”
Their third album, Even If It Kills Me, which I love, is by far their least popular. Yet, MCS finds ways to incorporate the themes from that CD into their new one as well. Even If It Kills Me was more of a serious album, unlike their first two which were mostly about girls or drinking. The new song “Skin and Bones” fits into the serious category as it questions our existence as humans.
While incorporating elements from all their previous work Motion City still was able to add some new features to their music. Most obvious is Justin Pierre’s vocals. He hits some notes that are unheard in any other MCS songs. His range and tone are incredibly pleasing to the ears. Bass lines also stand out to me in songs such as “Delirium” whereas in their previous work I rarely noticed the bass. Dark songs such as “Disappear” and the intro to “The Weakends” are also something this band seems to be experimenting with, and I think it sounds great.
About 10 listens through I love My Dinosaur Life. Overall I think it is what an album should be. It has a concrete message behind it as a whole, yet every song is unique and creative. When I look back at the first few months of 2010 I imagine this album will be the soundtrack playing in my head.
