Home > Music > CD Review > Relient K, 'Nashville Tennis EP/The Bird and the Bee Sides'

Relient K, 'Nashville Tennis EP/The Bird and the Bee Sides'

Twenty-six-track collection includes much filler and a couple handfuls of solid pop

By Matt Pais

Metromix
July 1, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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Backstory: Ohio-based pop-rockers Relient K are usually billed as a “Christian rock band,” though we can’t for the life of us determine anything remotely religious in their lyrics. (They believe in perspective and reflection; who doesn’t?) The group’s last full-length, “Five Score and Seven Years Ago,” debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard charts off the bouncy lead single, “Must Have Done Something Right.” They’re co-headliners of this year’s Warped Tour and they celebrate their 10th anniversary as a band with this 26-song collection, comprising 13 new songs (“Nashville”) and a smattering of 13 demos, B-sides and rarities (“Bird”).

Why you should care: The group dabbles in pop-punk, but mostly just specializes in sweet, catchy pop songs, sometimes sounding like Fountains of Wayne’s younger brothers. Their B-sides expose some bad plays on words (the title “A Penny Loafer Saved is a Penny Loafer Earned”; the line “Smith and Wesson, Jr. was a son of a gun” in “The Stenographer”), but it’s hard not to let their hooks make you wish you were in high school again, needing new music to blast throughout summer break.

Verdict: Relient K has an uncanny ability to deliver corny material in a manner that elevates it out of the 15-year-olds’ territory it so embraces. A lot of that comes from hummable melodies, singer Matt Thiessen’s hard-to-resist voice and songs like the anthemic “The Lining is Silver,” which oozes positivity from the edges of emotional unrest. And even if the particularly punky “The Vinyl Countdown” (heh heh) would probably sound better if it were by Green Day, the mellow “Curl Up and Die” actually stays on the sweet side of sappy, despite the groan-worthy refrain “I’ll curl up with you until I die with you.” Anyone looking for something profound, please carry on. Anyone looking for simple, enjoyably fluffy pop, grab a spoon.

X-Factor: “Nashville” shows the band is willing to stretch out, with all five members trading off lead vocal duties. It sounds like showing off, but everyone holds their own.

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