Jack's Mannequin
The Glass Passenger

Campus Correspondent Review By Chad Comello
North Central College

The term “emo” is thrown around a lot, attached to music that may or may not deserve the term. Well, Jack’s Mannequin’s music is emo. Is that good or bad? For the band’s debut 2005 album Everything in Transit, the emotional punch of the music was evident and effective. Now, three years later, Andrew McMahon and company have released The Glass Passenger (Sire/Warner Brothers), an equally emotional and driven album.

Fans of Everything in Transit will settle into the new disc easily. The band is skilled at finding a groove that works for each song and driving it home. “Annie Use Your Telescope” employs liberal use of orchestral elements like strings and percussion to great effect. The driving “Spinning” and the sleepy lament “Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby)” work well. Besides the single “The Resolution” (which was smartly picked), one of the stand-out tracks is “What Gets You Off,” a swaying tune where McMahon’s weak vocals actually work.

A downside of emo can be too much self-indulgence; there is plenty of it here. The eight-minute “Caves” doesn’t come close to earning its length. It’s understandable for McMahon, a leukemia survivor, to use his music for emotional release, but lyrically the album sometimes becomes a little too maudlin. Regardless, Jack’s Mannequin is mood music, so fans will enjoy The Glass Passenger for what it is. Whether the new album can grab new listeners is a different story.