Search - Arts & Sciences :: Hopeful Monsters

Disappointing

servedcold | USA | 04/06/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I was quite a fan of Paul Melancon's solo work - but this album seems rushed and incomplete. The combination of his typical dirge-like sorrowful tomes with the jangly pop mess of this new combo just doesn't work. It sounds like any other mediocre indi-college rock. What a shame."

Please

christifair | Greensboro, NC | 05/25/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If pretension, tedium, and self-indulgence are your thing, then this is the album and Melancon is the 'artist' for you. This is, put simply, one of the worst albums I have ever heard. If you want to hear popular emo music listen to Dashboard Confessional, Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, or even Saves The Day. This premeditated depression sound is plain irritating. The songwriter seems to be trying to turn his mediocre mid-life crisis into catchy teen angst. Mostly, it just sounds like an old man in a coffee shop strumming his guitar and whining. Is this supposed to be clever?

"

Every song was true, every word was a lie

Batgirl | Somewhere, USA | 05/23/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"A reviewer less attuned to the subtleties of "Hopeful Monsters" might find it ironic that Paul Melancon has chosen this point in his artistic development to stop performing under his own name and adopt the more collective identity of a new band, The Arts and Sciences. After all, there's little doubt this will be touted as a deeply personal and introspective effort, reaching into the deepest recesses of Melancon's troubled psyche and chronicling the artist's struggle with depression. Make no mistake - The Arts and Sciences may be presented as a band, but the sound comes off as Melancon solo with a cadre of guest stars to support him in his darkest hour. He is meant to come across as a Syd Barrett-esque tragic figure who is battling his inner demons (or inner monsters, if you will) in a reluctantly public manner.



But listen more closely, and you'll slowly come to realize that Melancon isn't showing you his darkest side here...or any side at all, for that matter. The songs have an element of last-minute slapdashery to them, as though they are the result of 11th hour duress.



As a result, the metaphors are sloppy, the rhymes hackneyed, and the entire album rings with insincerity. The repeated allusions to deceit and dishonesty don't do much to help his case. We shouldn't expect any less from a man whose best song on his last album was called "King Sham," but a songwriter who purports to be presenting something so deeply personal should at least attempt to put his best, most honest foot forward.



To the casual listener, "Hopeful Monsters" will come off as pleasant, inoffensive indie pop. The band sounds like every other band who grew up with a stack of XTC records in their basement. Melancon's voice, to be fair, isn't bad. However, there's nothing earth-shattering, or even very good, on this album. Competent musicianship and talented backing vocalists (including a guest appearance by Rose Polenzani) can't overcome the shoddy songwriting and lack of enthusiasm. After awhile, everything begins to sound the same. And even from the first listen, the endless whining drones of "Fluoxetene," "Boom Echo," "What She Kept," and "The Monster at the End of This Book" are virtually indistinguishable from one another. In general, nothing stands out as unique to this particular act, and everything they do has been done better somewhere else.



Bottom line - buyers seeking out great pop should steer well clear of this album. As an alternative, Melancon's 2002 solo effort "Camera Obscura" manages to, well, suck less than "Monsters" does, but if you're looking for the kind of catchy, evocative power-indie-pop that this purports to be, you'd do better to dig into the back catalog of Crowded House, Big Star, the aforementioned XTC, or any one of a million other quirky-catchy bands that The Arts and Sciences tries to emulate."