Jesse Labelle – Perfect Accident

Mainstream singer-songwriters come in two varieties.  On the one hand, they can develop a lasting career by consistently pushing themselves both musically and lyrically into new bounds.  Eventually they might develop a passionate connection with music as a form of personal expression, and win over even the hearts of skeptics (see: Butch Walker).  But on the flip side, they could also become a bland American Idol wannabe with a good voice but very little to say.  Sadly, in the case of Toronto native Jesse Labelle, even with his first EP, Perfect Accident, the later seems the case.

Labelle’s songwriting takes the same form for nearly all four tracks.  The album opens with “Perfect Accident,” which instantly falls victim to the bland radio love ballad formula.  Instrumentation serves as harmless background music, never trying anything too exciting as to not upstage Jesse’s teen heartthrob potential.  The same can be said about the remaining three tracks – his bandmates merely provide a safe but forgettable backdrop against which Labelle can sing his predictable pleas.

For that matter, Labelle’s lyrics seem inspired by nothing more than overplayed top forties soft rock hits.  “Perfect Accident” speaks to some nameless girl about how their unforeseen encounter led to the perfect romance, with “original” lines like “I’ve finally found what I’ve been looking for” and “good things come to those who wait.”   “Don’t Leave Now” falls in line with every other “let’s look for hope in this doomed relationship” song out there, and “Easier” is one of the vaguest love ballad’s you’ll ever hear.  In four songs Labelle all but exhausts his source material, leaving listeners to wonder what else he could possibly sing about in a future full length.

The only glimmer of hope in the entire EP rests in “Australia.”  While still instrumentally bland, Jesse touches on a little inside joke sure to hit home with some fellow Canadians – that being the recent trend for directionless high school graduates to head down under for a couple of years working in the outback.  Who knows why this rite of passage even exists, but hearing this reality at the heart of a breakup song is, at the very least, good for a chuckle.

But when all is said and done, just look at the album cover.  Jesse’s smiling up a storm because he knows he fits that teen heartthrob mould.  Just look at that casual dress, dreamlike fadeout of the background, and overall pretty boy aura.  With a little publicity, who knows how far his image will take him.  There’s no question that Jesse has a career ahead of him – all he has to do is write the same song over and over, and he’ll win over the hearts of Jonas Brothers’ fans everywhere.  What a fulfilling career.