Apathetic not a pathetic
EP
MMHMM....a gem of an album
Evan Lucy - Decemeber 6, 2005
Kings of guilty pleasure Relient K have released a new EP that consists of rerecorded, acoustic-driven tracks and a few b-sides.There’s an unfortunate stigma attached to Ohio pop-punk quintet Relient K: If they’re not preaching about God, they’re writing inane, asinine songs about Skittles and the pros and cons of mood rings.
That might have been true until the band released 2004’s MMHMM, a gem of an album that found the band breaking away from the youthful silliness of its past work and into more serious material. There was no “Sadie Hawkins Dance.” Instead, the band placed the emphasis on life — its trials and tribulations and fear of the future.
The songs occasionally were lighthearted, yet as a whole the album was full of introspection and meaning.
The band returns this winter with the Apathetic EP, which is a collection of b-sides from MMHMM as well as acoustic versions of album tracks and a few new songs.
Vocalist Matt Thiessen’s boyish croon arguably is at its best here, and his rapid-fire delivery and witty wordplay are in full force throughout the disc.
On “Apathetic Way to Be,” he admits, “Half of me’s all about apathy/ And the other half just doesn’t care” and later declares “being apathetic’s a pathetic way to be/ But I don’t care.”
Theissen’s lyrics might be Relient K’s strongest attribute, and they help distance the band from the horde of pop-punk bands writing typical teenage numbers about moving to California and lost love.
Many might overlook Relient K as being nothing but a group of immature 20-somethings, but the pop-punk they create is better than most bands could dream of writing. The hooks are plentiful, and you can’t help but sing along and tap your feet.
“The Truth” and “Apathetic Way to Be,” the MMHMM outtakes, don’t stray an inch from the sound the band employed through that album, but that’s not too surprising. There is no reason, however, why either of these tracks would feel out-of-place on MMHMM. The two songs might even be better than some of the songs that found their way onto that album.
The acoustic tracks are a nice treat for the band’s tried-and-true fans, but none of them will impress newcomers. The one exception here in the new version of “Over Thinking” (from 2003’s Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right...But Three Do), which took a mediocre pop song and transformed it into a beautiful acoustic ballad.
The band had good intentions when releasing these acoustic cuts, but the re-recordings ultimately fail to live up to the album versions. The originals were high in energy while these sound a bit tired and boring.
Still, you have to give the band credit for incorporating uncommon instruments into the acoustic versions, such as a mandolin on “Be My Escape” and a banjo on “Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet,” along with Thiessen’s trademark piano.
Relient K always has been one of the more prolific bands in the scene, as the group has released something nearly every year since 2000.
While the Apathetic EP isn’t the best release of Relient K’s still-young career, it is still a nice collection to hold fans over until the release of the band’s yet-untitled 2006 album.