O.A.R.
(Atlantic)
O.A.R. has built a reputation on their accessible, fun, frat-rock; but the self-consciously poppy All Sides will definitely jar long-time fans with just how far it departs from the band's previous work.
The album opener "This Town" signifies a new era for O.A.R., beginning with an ambitious guitar hook that could've been cribbed from any Journey album. Producer Matt Wallace has replaced the band's acoustic-only toolbox with compressed electric guitars, vocal reverb, piano harmonies, and a radio-friendly sheen. Yet the band seems shaky when creating with the new tools, and the first half of the album plays like a game of "name that influence" that focuses strictly on generic adult-oriented rock. Shadows of bands like Maroon 5, Evan and Jaron, Five for Fighting, and Lifehouse all litter the first several tracks. When the familiar reggae rhythm from earlier O.A.R. albums does surface, it doesn't save the album, and instead just sounds out of place, like an old-friend that doesn't fit in with your new ones. It's not until the seventh track, "Something Coming Over," that O.A.R. even begins to sound like themselves.
But the album is not without a couple of catchy songs. Lead single "Shattered" sounds factory-made to be a potential radio-hit, as does late-album power-ballad "Gift." Yet in order to be successful, both songs leave behind every musical element that has made O.A.R. distinctive. After a decade spent creating the frat-rock genre, All Sides sounds like an identity crisis, at once abandoning and trying to preserve what made O.A.R. charming in the first place.
Standout Tracks: "Shattered," "Something Coming Over," "Gift" BRIAN CREECH
