Plain White T’s – Wonders of the Younger

Back when they were on Fearless, Plain White T’s used to be talked about a lot in my little scene. Over the years, they blew up with Hey There Delilah and while never truly changing styles or sounds much, they just kind of left our little circle as people’s taste evolved and matured. So when I was faced with Wonders of the Younger, I was shocked because this was the first I had heard about the album despite it being out for several months already. It was recorded, completed and released without ever coming close to appearing on my radar; and it really all makes perfect sense because Wonders of The Younger is so horrible inoffensive, you just forget about it the moment it stops playing.

The band continues with their simple pop-rock ditties about love and life, sung over a delicate acoustic guitar or a catchy pop beat. This makes Plain White T’s, and Wonders of the Younger, fly by without any impact other than the possibility of boredom.

The entire album seems familiar, almost to a fault. The opening track Irrational Anthem is the prime example as a mix between Hey There Delilah and Good Charlotte’s The Anthem. The lead singleRhythm of Love seems like 1,2,3,4 #2 with its upbeat, acoustic jubilations. Killer pulls from Steel Train with a sparse soundscape other than a solid drum beat keeping time throughout. While on Cirque Dans La Rue, they pull an exact Panic At The Disco theatrical spin.

There are a few saving graces here thanks for the album’s slight conceptual theme of circus and childhood wonder. This story-line enables the band to add in a little flare here and there, some circus sounds and whimsical instrumentation. So even though Welcome To Mystery drags on way longer than necessary at four and a half minutes, the Alice In Wonderland vibe saves it.  The violin on Last Breath sounds vaguely Yellowcard-ish (and by vaguely, I mean extremely) but it works to push the song a head of the crowd.

Some of the added flares bomb though as Broken Records is a dance-pop song like a cheap Lady Gaga or Ke$ha knockoff.

Generally though, Wonders of The Younger is just inoffensive pop ditties. Our Song is the signature Plain White T’s song that could’ve been their second Hey There Delilah had it received the right radio push and Airplane follows it up with nearly an identical structure just with a more echoey production quality in the acoustic/vocal combination.

There’s very few things that will make you go “this is horrible” but there’s absolutely nothing that will make you come back for more either.