Let me be honest here: I struggled writing this review from the very moment I turned on itunes and let “My Dinosaur Life” come to life through my computer speakers. It’s not because this particular album is terrible or in any way unlistenable. In fact, the newest effort from Motion City Soundtrack managed to surprise me in almost every way. Yet for some reason or another, I can’t quite shake the feeling that the band I once knew so well is now no more.
Well, let’s hold up for a second and backtrack eight or so years to the early 2000’s. If you’re like me, you fell in love with MCS when you first heard the album, “I Am the Movie.” Brutally honest lyrics paired with music tuned to a blistering pace managed to keep MCS’ first effort in my own personal rotation for the past seven years. Their follow-up album, “Commit This to Memory,” was nearly able to match their initial pop-punk endeavor in terms of quality lyrics and quick tempo and is again something I find myself listening to from time to time. However, 2007’s “Even If It Kills Me,” made me forget about MCS until now. An album with nearly no redeeming qualities, “Even If It Kills Me” seemed to be a crossroads of sorts for the band; almost every song was a mass of confusion, consistently feeling like an unpolished pop record with a thin coating of punk aesthetic laminated overtop. The band’s identity was inarguably gone, and “Even If It Kills Me” was MCS’ failed attempt to recover it.
When listening to “My Dinosaur Life,” it is easy to assume that MCS never did find that identity lost from their first two albums. Unquestionably, “My Dinosaur Life” proves that MCS is not the same band you adored when “The Future Freaks Me Out” first made sweet, sweet love to your ears. Instead, the identity that MCS appears to have now claimed can more or less be considered all pop, minus the punk. Imagine if you can, if “From Under the Cork Tree” mated with “Stop.” Essentially, this album has some great, sugarcoated pop hooks that never really manage to break from a mid-tempo pace (in fact, my biggest complaint is how restrained lead singer Justin Pierre feels; his voice never hits the extreme ranges that are found on earlier albums). Is this a bad thing? That’s where I find myself struggling. Sure, I would have much preferred another “I Am the Movie,” but I never expected such considering “My Dinosaur Life” is a major label debut. In fact, this album is a pretty solid pop record all around. Sure, a few tracks manage to elicit memories of previous efforts; Disappear could be a b-side from “I Am the Movie” while Delirium could have been ripped straight from “Commit this to Memory.” Overall, however, this is where most - if not all - similarities end.
So here I am again, struggling with my general feelings about “My Dinosaur Life” and how to properly score it. Yes, Motion City Soundtrack has created a solid pop record that has managed to keep my undivided attention for the past week. However, I have to ask myself whether or not I see this release passing the test of time as the previous two albums have, or whether “My Dinosaur Life” will find itself collecting dust with other flavor-of-the-year pop records.
My prediction right now? Probably the shelf.
3.5/5
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