Plain White T’s – American Nights

What would a Plain White T’s review be without a “Hey Their Delilah” reference?  Nearly ten years and three albums after the acoustic single landed the band in superstardom, the Lombard, Illinois quintet continues to be measured against their most recognizable success.  The track casts a huge shadow over anything that they may have released subsequently, and the pressure of breaking through their one-hit-wonder status seems to have diluted much of their prior output (even Wonders Of The Younger’s divergent ambition just felt like a FUN or MCR knockoff).  

After a fairly predictable run of repeating the same mistakes over, and over, and over again, the band finally ditched Hollywood Records, took a true chance and opted to go the Pledge Music independent route.  The band trumpeted their newfound “complete creative freedom” and began the recording process.  The result is the finely honed and produced, eleven song full-length, American Nights.  Make no mistake about it, Plain White T’s remain a made-for-radio pop-rock band at their core, but their hooks, choruses and overall feel exudes the confidence and natural flow last seen during their Fearless Records days.  The album isn’t without faults, but its the best we’ve had in a long while.

For starters, American Nights opener and title track gets off on the right footing.  Full of big hooks and nostalgic imagery, the track lands just shy of anthemic with a salvo of “wo-oahs,” making for a natural listen that meshes well with warming lyrics of childhood memories coming full circle.  It’s the type of light and catchy tune that Plain White T’s have been coming up just shy of for a long time now.  Even the album’s first single, “Pause,” which unravels as a buoyant, mid-tempo, made-for-radio hit has enough personality to separate it from like-minded peers Lumineers and Imagine Dragons.  Many of the songs risk being branded formulaic by critics, but appeal to the senses with the same spontaneous studio magic that made “Hey Their Delilah” such a hit.  And thus is true of the bulk of American Nights.  

Take the lively caribbean infused beat and sporadic acoustic flare of “Heavy Rotation.”  “She’s got friends in heavy rotation on the radio,” describes the band of a rhythmic beauty living the party scene, before breaking out in a wild array of handclaps and layered harmonies.  In fact, diverse percussive elements elevate simplistic tracks like “You Belong” and “Dance Off Time” beyond predictable bounds.  When compared to weaker songs like “Some Day You’re Gonna Love Me,” the production strategy’s success shines bright.  The album tapers off somewhere towards the back half, for which “Some Day You’re Gonna Love Me” and “Time To Move On” serve as unremarkable but inoffensive filler.

Only a couple of true regrets pepper the American Nights’ tracklist.  “Stay” in particular serves as the biggest transgression of the bunch, coming across as a blatant ripoff of Maroon 5 with high, robotic vocals circa Adam Levine.  The song actually holds the highest likelihood of hitting the charts, but the rest of us can gladly pass it on by.

American Nights reignites Plain White T’s flame more than any of their work in recent years.  The album still exists within a standard pop-rock framework with few surprises, but does so with a dynamic spark and enough personality to give American Nights a fighting chance at bringing Plain White T’s back into the limelight (even if they go too far, or not far enough from time to time). Regardless of American Nights’ commercial outcome, one thing is clear: Plain White T’s are back writing the music that they want, and they would be advised to keep it that way.