2008 Woodie Awards
'Pretty. Odd.' offers a new Panic
Mean McCourt
Issue date: 6/16/08 Section: A&E
"You don't have to worry 'cause we're still the same band," promises the opening track on Panic at the Disco's latest album, "Pretty. Odd."
While some aspects of the band's style remain the same, many elements of this pop/electronica/emo scene sensation have been dramatically altered.
The end result is a cleaner, happier album with a green message, chock full of fresh lyrics and memorable melodies.
"Pretty. Odd." is genres away from the group's first release, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out." Long gone are the extravagantly complicated song titles and stories of whores, strip clubs and cheating.
Panic (now minus the "!") has opted for a much sunnier outlook on life, choosing to write abstract lyrics about nature, an attempt akin to the psychedelic musings of The Beatles.
Other Beatles influences can be heard throughout the album, which was coincidentally recorded and mixed at Abbey Road Studios. Soaring melodies, bubbly guitar riffs and three-piece harmonies make this album a poppy throwback with enough pizzazz for the current generation.
The first single, "Nine in the Afternoon," is a mellifluous number lacking logical lyrical sense but bursting with harmonic strings and horn arrangements.
The song begins on an unhappy note.
"Picking up things we shouldn't read/ It looks like the end of history as we know/ It's just the end of the world."
It continues to make less sense, but with a more positive outlook.
"'Cause it's nine in the afternoon/ Your eyes are the size of the moon/ You could 'cause you can so you do/ We're feeling so good/ Just the way that we do."
"That Green Gentleman," another catchy and upbeat sing-along piece, was the second single off the album with a music video that premiered May 2.
Lead singer Brendon Urie's tone quality has vastly improved since their first release, as he now relies less on screaming and being covered by electronic backing.
Overall, "Pretty. Odd" is a solid set of songs strung together with lilting melodies and harmonious vocals.
Panic at the Disco, short an exclamation point and emo lyrics, produced a distinctive album with extra punctuation and a more refined musical caliber to bring a sound from the past into the new millennium.
Megan McCourt is a contributor to La Voz.
While some aspects of the band's style remain the same, many elements of this pop/electronica/emo scene sensation have been dramatically altered.
The end result is a cleaner, happier album with a green message, chock full of fresh lyrics and memorable melodies.
"Pretty. Odd." is genres away from the group's first release, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out." Long gone are the extravagantly complicated song titles and stories of whores, strip clubs and cheating.
Panic (now minus the "!") has opted for a much sunnier outlook on life, choosing to write abstract lyrics about nature, an attempt akin to the psychedelic musings of The Beatles.
Other Beatles influences can be heard throughout the album, which was coincidentally recorded and mixed at Abbey Road Studios. Soaring melodies, bubbly guitar riffs and three-piece harmonies make this album a poppy throwback with enough pizzazz for the current generation.
The first single, "Nine in the Afternoon," is a mellifluous number lacking logical lyrical sense but bursting with harmonic strings and horn arrangements.
The song begins on an unhappy note.
"Picking up things we shouldn't read/ It looks like the end of history as we know/ It's just the end of the world."
It continues to make less sense, but with a more positive outlook.
"'Cause it's nine in the afternoon/ Your eyes are the size of the moon/ You could 'cause you can so you do/ We're feeling so good/ Just the way that we do."
"That Green Gentleman," another catchy and upbeat sing-along piece, was the second single off the album with a music video that premiered May 2.
Lead singer Brendon Urie's tone quality has vastly improved since their first release, as he now relies less on screaming and being covered by electronic backing.
Overall, "Pretty. Odd" is a solid set of songs strung together with lilting melodies and harmonious vocals.
Panic at the Disco, short an exclamation point and emo lyrics, produced a distinctive album with extra punctuation and a more refined musical caliber to bring a sound from the past into the new millennium.
Megan McCourt is a contributor to La Voz.
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