When the roof fell in on the boy band scene, crushing young
Westlife
knock-offs
Mytown
in the process, Dubliners
Danny O'Donoghue
and
Mark Sheehan
high-tailed it to L.A. to engineer for the likes of
Teddy Riley
,
the Neptunes
, and
Rodney Jerkins
. Formed with the addition of drummer
Glen Power
, three-piece band
the Script
may have become an overnight success in the U.K. and Ireland with their debut single
"We Cry,"
but their self-titled album bears the imprint of their internship in California, a meticulously and well-scripted (excuse the pun) blend of smooth soul and radio rock in the mould of
Maroon 5
OneRepublic
. (Indeed, they share much in common with the latter band, having both worked with
Timbaland
in the past.) The singles
"We Cry"
"The Man Who Can't Be Moved"
are obvious highlights, the former a catalog of hard luck stories -- single mothers, drug-addled rock stars, the usual suspects -- set to the tune of moody jazz guitar chords and lavish strings.
calls to mind the soul-infused modern rock of
John Legend
, while
"Talk You Down"
sees
O'Donoghue
talk a friend down from the brink of suicide in the style of
Daniel Bedingfield
. The highlights come fast and early -- though
"Before the Worst"
borrows a little too much from
Coldplay
's
"Speed of Sound"
for comfort -- and by the time the sterile boy band imitations
"I'm Yours"
"If You See Kay"
(essentially a rewrite of
) roll around,
has exhausted its songwriting well twice over. ~ Dave Donnelly