Curse or blessing Chicago’s Plain White T’s, the platinum selling band, are best known for “Hey There Delilah” which carries the accolade of the 18th most downloaded song of all time. Roll forward a decade and a half, and free of the shackles of Fearless and Hollywood records, they are back, independent and proud, touting an all new album - American Nights, and my god! What an album it is!
Right from the off it is one of the most instantly upbeat albums of the year. Every track is a quirky delivery of melodies from a hidden gems file that only a band of this quality always seems to have in reserve when they need something special.
The whole album cries contemporary Americana and takes us through an upbeat celebration of a life reclaimed from teenage consequences that would resonate within us all. You get the feeling that the band has been given the freedom to express themselves throughout this exercise with joy and reflection. There is something for anyone here, but I would guess most likely everything for everyone.
Instantly likeable and never a downbeat intonation this work is clearly a labour of love and delivered with a lilting edifice of joyous pathos. The subject matter is often at odds with the delivery and the whole album could be interpreted either as a celebration of perfect love or a thousand loves lost.
For me this is a uniquely endearing and ageless album. Whether you are a table tapper or an embarrassing bopper, I defy you not to at least smile from note one. This is currently my unexpectedly favorite album of 2015. As the band states “this is the album we wanted to make, that’s the most exciting thing for any artist, to have free reign to make an artistic statement were rejuvenated and re-inspired”, boy does it show!
11/11
Iain @docswallow
