2.0 out of 5 stars
Loveless, March 4, 2008
This review is from: The Sounds of Love EP (Audio CD)
Maybe I'm abnormally picky, but I like my pop music to have something special and memorable, rather than just being a catchy melody.
And sadly I don't really find that in the Morning Light's debut EP, "The Sounds of Love." By the time I finished each song I was hard-pressed to remember what the songs sounded like -- this Pittsburgh band churns out a string of mildly catchy, blandly punky pop melodies.
"The Love" opens on a fairly interesting note -- a gentle, sunny guitar melody overlaid with Harrison Wargo's androgynous vocals, lamenting that he can't stand to sleep alone, but is also tongue-tied. It's a melodious little pop song, pleasant to the ear but not terribly memorable.
Then they kick off into a series of guitar pop melodies that sound a lot like an MTV pop-punk band -- the mall-emo lament "You're Not Mine," the riff-spurting "Safe Bet," a yowling fast-paced pop-punk anthem ("Pretend there's something more left in your town!"), a painfully awkward start-stopping, clanking rocker.
It actually rallies some with the last song -- "The Sounds" has a more delicate melody, with military drums, harmonies and expansive guitars. And there are some moments that echo the first song.
The Morning Light have some definite talent for more complex, less radio-friendly pop songs. Unfortunately, "Sounds of Love" is focused on a particularly bland, unmemorable brand of pop-rock -- it sticks to catchy repeating guitar melodies, and tries to add a harder edge for a sort-of-but-not-quite pop-punk sound.
Unfortunately, while their songs are catchy while you're actually listening to them, they don't really last -- the moments of piano, electronica and strings woven in are too brief and quiet to make a mark. Instead, we get generic powerpop melodies crammed with repetitive electric riffs and spurts of bass.
It's a pity, because Wargo has a decent boy voice when he's not trying to wring explosive emotion from everything ("I NEEDED you to KNOW!") and just sings with real feeling. With some lyrics that don't sound like teen boys lamenting their problems with girls and small towns, he would sound pretty great ("Pretend there's something more in your town!").
The Morning Light's debut EP suffers from a bad case of MTV-rockitis -- pop-punk stylings and unmemorably catchy melodies. There are hints of possible good music in there, but no more than moments.
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