Hey Monday truly broke out in their little corner of the music scene after 2008’s Hold On Tight and their world tour with Fall Out Boy and All Time Low. Nearly two years later, Beneath It All, which was originally slated to be the band’s second album, is now the band’s follow-up EP. Unfortunately the much-anticipated release might end up being a popular “Disappointment Of The Year” album candidate.
Beneath It All, which is just over 20 minutes long, starts out with “Wish You Were Here”, the EP’s best. The track starts small and progressively grows as Cassadee Pope gives her best vocal performance of the EP with her notably honest sound over flowing but catchy guitar parts.
The bad part about “Wish You Were Here” is that it sets the bar too high for the EP’s following tracks. A mixed acoustic and electric track “Wondergirl” begs to draw comparisons with the pop world of previous Avril Lavigne songs while nothing about it truly stands out, which seems to be one of Beneath It All’s two issues. “I Don’t Want To Dance” follows Beneath It All’s trend, decreasing interest. Surely made to be the EP’s single and sing-a-long, Pope exclaims “I don’t want to dance // You blew your chance // To rock my night away”.
“Hangover” displays the rate of overproduction on the EP, which is the norm for a Butch Walker produced track. Cassadee’s lyrics don’t help either as she sings “The shake in my lip from the look in your eye // Makes me wanna die // I’ve got the worst hangover from you”.
“Mr. Pushover” and “Where Is My Head” close out Beneath It All in a lackluster fashion with minimal energy and even poorer lyrics. Hey Monday’s tag as a pop-rock band amongst pop-punk bands is their ability to be catchy in a clean way, and they undoubtedly missed their mark in what can only be described as a sophomore slump. “Where Is My Head” will have you hoping that the track is closer to the end than the beginning, which is the opposite of what should happen on a 20 minute EP.
The second of two issues on Beneath It All is that neither Jersey Moriarty, Mike Gentile, nor Alex Lipshaw recorded any of the guitar or bass parts on the EP, which seems to have been the labels decision. This, ultimately, is more than likely the reason behind the EP’s lack of energy and strength. Hopefully Hey Monday will be nominated for 2011’s “Comeback Of The Year”.
**/*****
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