Motion City Soundtrack: Even If It Kills Me

Motion City Soundtrack: Even If It Kills Me Motion City Soundtrack hit the scene hard in 2002 with their single "The Future Freaks Me Out". It's combination of power pop sensibility, pop culture lyrics, and lead singer Justin Pierre's unusually high voice, made it a perfect anthem. Five years later they release their third album, Even If It Kills Me. It'd be silly to say they've matured since then. They're song writing hasn't changed at all. The only theme they really deal with is love. They still mix quirky and dramatic pathos in their songs. Maybe most important is they're songs are still extremely catchy. Even If It Kills Me doesn't have the stand out single like "The Future Freaks Me Out". The first single "Broken Heart" has an anthematic feel but it's sappy subject matter makes it not nearly as memorable. The second single "This is For Real" is catchy but not nearly as big as "Broken Heart". The songs are good but they don't live up to MCS' back catalogue. The fact is if the band is gonna be formulaic with their albums they have to constantly outdo themselves. I've seen reviews comparing MCS to Weezer or to Blink 182, but they're not really close to either of them for several reasons. First of all, they are a very synth based band while neither band mentioned has a synth player. Secondly, MCS is quirkier than Weezer and much less goofy than Blink 182. The fact is with their quirky take on love songs and synth based music, they're probably closest to Ozma. Rating: 5.8/10 MP3: Motion City Soundtrack "Calling All Cops"