The genre of power-pop is a lot like candy: it’s good in moderation, but too much of it can make you sick.
There was a time when this genre, which blends sappy love songs with upbeat tempos, was original and enjoyable, but since the market became flooded by cookie-cutter bands who all sport the same haircuts, neon colored t-shirts and jeans that look as if your little sister could fit into them.
The days of power-pop seem over.
The power-pop band A Rocket to the Moon’s debut studio release On Your Side has been highly anticipated for some time now.
The band released a string of successful EPs from 2006 to 2008, toured with bands such as
The Maine and Secondhand Serenade and even managed to land a record deal with Decaydance, the record label of Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz.
Regardless, On Your Side seems like a feeble attempt to stand out in a run-down genre.
While it has some songs that are worth the attention, the album fails to make a lasting impression.
The 12-song album produces some noteworthy songs such as Annabelle and Baby Blue Eyes, but outside of these, the tracks seem to drift away like the sound waves from your speakers.
Songs like On a Lonely Night and Like We Used To are catchy and enjoyable, but what drags them down, and what seems to drag most of On Your Side down, are the lyrics.
I think we can all agree that this scenario is getting annoying: guy loves girl, girl dumps guy, guy writes song about break-up.
And the annoyance has never been more apparent than on On Your Side.
“On a lonely night, you will see you’re everything to me,” sings Martino.
“On a lonely night, oh, the truth is every night is lonely without you; every night is lonely without you here.”
Unfortunately, lyrics like these plague the entire album and when you couple them together with cheap power chords and whiney vocals, you get the mess that is made on On Your Side.
A Rocket to the Moon’s debut album is full of poorly developed and produced songs; together they don’t add to the album and apart they seem just as inadequate.
Although it might have aimed for the moon, this album shows that this shuttle was screwed long before takeoff.
To contact Zach Fraser, email zfraser@ut.edu.
To hear A Rocket to the Moon’s album, visit their MySpace page.
