If
Andrew McMahon
is the
Ben Folds
of
Something Corporate
, then his side project
Jack's Mannequin
is his
Fear of Pop
, his opportunity to step out of the group and try something different. Except in
McMahon
's case, it isn't so much fear of
pop
as much as an embrace of
, since he sheds the loud guitars and punky overtones of his main band for a sunny, unabashedly tuneful Californian
on
's debut album,
Everything in Transit
. In truth, it's not all that far removed from his contributions to
, which were also tightly written and tuneful, but it sounds truer to his artistic inclinations than either of
SC
's studio albums, since underneath its guise as a loose concept album about a year of turbulent relationships on Venice Beach, it's a full-blown
singer/songwriter
piano-
album. More than ever, on
sounds like the heir to
' wise-ass interpretation of
Joe Jackson
, but
isn't as cynical or goofy as
Folds
. His humor is sardonic and low-key, plus he's more concerned with affairs of the heart. Although he relies a little bit too heavily on first-person narratives, he has a keener eye for character and behavior than his
emo
peers, and he's a better tunesmith, too, not just content to write hooks, but taking the time to let the music build and breathe. With producer
Jim Wirt
,
has given
an appropriately colorful, even cinematic, scope and, thanks to drums provided by
Tommy Lee
(who proves here that he's a more versatile drummer than he ever did in
Moetley Cruee
), it also has strong backbone. So the album has momentum, but it's as sweetly melancholy as a fading summer, yet not nearly as transient as that, either. It really shouldn't work -- it's a conceptual
power pop
album, delivered by an
songwriter, backed by an aging metalhead, and co-produced by a guy who gave
Hoobastank
hits -- but the result is one of the more pleasant surprises of 2005. It's good enough that it makes you hope that
makes
his full-time band. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine