Album Review: Plain White T's - Parallel Universe

Parallel Universe hears Plain White T's deliver a new style, taking on a far more electronic and dance sound.

While the album has potential, it's been washed away due to being too overproduced; the musical talent we know they're capable of just hasn't been showcased.

Sick Of Love is one of many songs on the album that is so almost there. The strings are incredible, the story intriguing, but by the minute mark it's filled with too many synthesised beats and repetitive lines. No Tears hears singer Tom Higgenson pleading to a friend to stop crying over a girl ("What did you think was gonna happen?"). Quite frankly, it's a little harsh, and if we have to hear the line "Don't you go crying no tears" one more time...

Mixing emo and electronic genres together is a game move, but it's far from ground-breaking for Plain White T's. For a band that have been together for 20 years, sure, change is inevitable, but Parallel Universe shows that perhaps the band haven't quite taken the right path with album number six. By the time the album wraps, it's been decided that a 14-track release of just Hey There Delilah would be far more pleasurable.