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Album Review: Simple Plan, "Simple Plan" (Lava)
To say Simple Plan is a simple band writing simple songs would be, well, true, but also a little too easy. Anyone who went to high school knows conforming takes a huge effort. With their self-titled third album, the Montreal pop-punkers go to great lengths to use popular hit-selling sounds to create perfectly mainstream music.
Using predictable Fall Out Boy-like dance hooks and generic punk rock pauses, Simple Plan are not straying far from what they've always written--catchy jock-and-cheerleader punk-pop that's as acceptable and safe to the teen scene as an Abercrombie or Hollister T-shirt. No mind-blowing moments or even real creative inspiration here.
Singer Pierre Bouvier is as nasally and whiney as ever. Clichéd choruses, like the one in the first track, "When I'm Gone," allow us to know the lyrics before Bouvier even sings them: "If misery loves company well/So long/You'll miss me when I'm gone." The band addresses topics like unfaithful girlfriends, leaving town to chase a dream, proving haters wrong by becoming a success and other typical angst-ridden, you'll-be-sorry-when thoughts.
Even their most interesting song is passé in concept. Just how many songs do we need about generational pride? Well, whatever that number is, apparently Simple Plan thought it just wasn't enough. Catering to the gangsta wannabe movement is "Generation," which opens with steady bass beats and powerful horn patterns that pump alongside a nondescript punk tune. When Bouvier sings, "I do what everybody wants to do/It's not so complicated," it's not hard to imagine that he could be talking about his own music. What's even worse is that he seems to think this philosophy represents his generation.
It's not clear whether this release reflects a band trying too hard, or just being lazy. Either way, the music can be summed up as simply mediocre.
