Release Date: April 26, 2011
Listening to All At Once, The Airborne Toxic Event’s second album, sounds like all the shitty situations songwriter Mikel Jollett has suffered has finally killed his optimism. The band is still competent in their ability to play music, but the songs lack the rumbustious spirit and down trodden punk voice that made tracks like “Missy” fun.
The California band’s self-titled debut featured hooky guitar rock bathed in playful pathos. Some critics called it derivative of larger bands like The Killers, but The Airborne Toxic Event managed to differentiate themselves by making their songs as catchy as they were melodramatic. Unfortunately, they may have put stronger emphasis on the drama for their second outing. Think of their single, “Sometime Around Midnight,” but stretch it into a full length album and take out the orchestra.
The opening track, “All At Once,” opens with synth tones, muted guitar picking and low energy lyrics from Jollett. It builds with heavier drums and additional vocal layering, but the additions don’t add up to a satisfying song. It sounds too much like they’re trying to be U2 and mistook arena rock filler for substance.
That’s not to say the album is completely devoid of good songs. “Numb,” “It Doesn’t Mean a Thing,” “Changing,” and “All I Ever Wanted” are catchy numbers that manage to be frank without killing the album’s momentum. The bouncy guitar melodies and sing along choruses lodge themselves into your ear in a good way.
Topics for songs don’t depart too far from Jollett’s personal relationships, and as the album goes on that proves to be a liability. Too often the listening experience feels like he’s reading his live journal to you in a super serious tone while a soon-to-be ex is dropkicking his heart. In certain songs like “The Graveyard Near the House” it works. The intimate quality of its acoustic guitar, vocal harmonies, and lyrical meditation on love and death is moving. It actually feels genuine and doesn’t sound like it’s overextending itself to connect to the listener. The majority of the album does.
“Half of Something Else” is packed with sweeping guitars, harmonies and emotive howling from Jollett. Unfortunately, all of that effort doesn’t make lyrics like, “Now I tell you I would die/If it’s what you’d rather see/And I don’t care if it’s clever/I just want you with me,” compelling. Sure, everyone can relate to pining for someone, but there’s no amount of raw emotion that will make that desperation interesting to anyone but the desperate.
All At Once’s ultimate failure is mistaking melodrama and slick production for substance.The band has crafted an album that rarely goes beyond cliché to express an interesting or novel idea.
It seems the band left heart behind when they wrote the album. The fact that they’ve simplified their sound and left out much of the instrumentation only compounds the problem. It’s sad that The Airborne Toxic Event went all in and came out with something lame, but hopefully they’ll learn from their mistakes and bring back the charm on their next release.
The Airborne Toxic Event – All At Once Tracklist:
- “All at Once”
- “Numb”
- “Changing”
- “All For a Woman”
- “It Doesn’t Mean a Thing”
- “The Kids Are Ready to Die”
- “Welcome to Your Wedding Day”
- “Half of Something Else”
- “Strange Girl”
- “All I Ever Wanted”
- “The Graveyard Near the House”
