Matchbook Romance / Motion City Soundtrack - Matchbook Romance / Motion City Soundtrack

  by Daniel Cressey

published: 17 / 10 / 2004

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American punk isn’t the first genre that might appear to be worthy of acoustic treatment. At the same time there is a tradition for bands like these to do unplugged numbers to prove they can, in much the same way that boy bands on chat shows sing a cappella to prove they’re "serious artists." Admittedly there is a difference between proving that you can do more than just scream and that you can do more than just be screamed at, but its does feel like both have something to prove. Motion City Soundtrack actually pull it off, at least with ‘When “You’re” Around’. Despite the slightly confusing use of inverted commas this works as an acoustic track but it is equally clear to see how it could come out of a punk sensibility. With its “I cant’ fucking stand it when “you’re” around” (with those commas again) it presents a nice combination of plaintive and angry. The vocals of singer Justin Pierre are distinctive enough to rule him out of any boy band, which is no bad thing. Matchbook Romance’s contributions to this split single are less striking. They are not bad but although the pared down nature of the recordings also shows up the pared down nature of the songs themselves. Their first contribution ‘In Transit (For You)’ is not unpleasant, but when Andrew Jordan sings “Baby if you want me too, I’ll do anything for you” it is hard not too think of those a cappella boy bands. Then the band launches into electric guitars and cranks it all up half way through and it seems like they just thought ‘oh this acoustic lark isn’t working, let’s go loud’. Not a bad release then, but one that sometimes feels like a four song collection of b-sides.

Track Listing:-

1 Matchbook Romance- In Transit (For You)
2 Matchbook Romance- Playing For Keeps
3 Motion City Soundtrack- When "You're" Around
4 Motion City Soundtrack- Sunday Warning

Label Links:-

http://epitaph.com/
https://www.facebook.com/epitaphrecords
http://epitaphrecords.tumblr.com/
http://www.kingsroadmerch.com/epitaph-records/region/
https://twitter.com/epitaphrecords
https://www.youtube.com/epitaph

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