Jack's Mannequin Take A Long Ride with 'Passenger'

Just about everyone familiar with Something Corporate/Jack's Mannequin singer Andrew McMahon went through a battle with leukemia back in 2005 and 2006. What few people realize is that McMahon received that shocking diagnosis on the day production and mastering wrapped up on JM's debut Everything in Transit. So even though Everything in Transit had all manner of emotional content and tremendous Ben Folds-ian pop music to back it up, the 3 years between that album and the newly released The Glass Passenger held a veritable treasure trove of musical and emotional paths to take. And dammit if Jack's Mannequin don't make the most of every attempt to rise to the occasion.

The album comes in soaring over the horizon with "Crashin'", in which McMahon proclaims "I wanna hear some music..." over the same quick-paced piano and bouncing drums that made Everything In Transit a surprise success in the first place. More importantly it shows McMahon hasn't missed a beat, that he still has the same frantic lyrics, just with a far different subject behind them. Make no mistake; if Everything in Transit told the story of McMahon's life at the time it was written, then The Glass Passenger is its direct sequel, picking up with the fateful day when his priorities shifted. Those themes continue throughout the entire album, between the encouraging "Swim" and the tearjerker "Hammers and Strings", culminating in the triumphant first single "The Resolution", easily one of the best songs to come out of the pop-punk genre in recent memory, and certainly a contender for best track of 2008. No, the lyrics and the themes are never in doubt on The Glass Passenger. Even his voice tells of the strain and exhaustion that makes The Glass Passenger such a genuine listen. McMahon's is 110% honest and true through every single line and phrase.

The album falters in the music. When the hooks walk out and hold up a massive neon sign, the music is fantastic. "Spinning" is trademark JM through and through, and "Suicide Blonde" is reminiscent of both Everything in Transit and some of the best of Something Corporate. Moments like the decidedly in-the-moment "Bloodshot" show that McMahon isn't just penning a memoir; he wants the music to mature, and that's one of the few instances where it fully develops. The problem is there are other moments where the music feels secondary when it should be going hand-in-hand with McMahon's lyrical artistry, which gets better every album, be it a Jack's Mannequin or Something Corporate record. That same strained voice that made "Swim" a powerful track ends up missing the mark on "Caves", which comes off somewhere between Something Corporate favorite "Konstantine" and The Beatles' "A Day in the Life".

In a sect of music where guys in their late twenties are still going through therapy for the time their dream girl fell for the quarterback, Andrew McMahon looks at the emotional bar and surpasses it by lightyears. Even the music is beyond nearly all of the band's peers, save for maybe Jimmy Eat World (whom Jack's Mannequin emulate on the uneven "What Gets You Off"). But when the album's themes and lyrics are so stellar, it makes the slightly left-of-center musical choices seem that much more mysterious and confusing.

Final Score: 9/10
Jack's Mannequin - Crashin'

==TJ==