“Pretty. Odd.” is pretty good for Panic at the Disco

By ALEX BACON
EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL

Panic at the Disco (now minus the !) just released its sophomore album, “Pretty. Odd.”

I’m a big fan of the band’s first album, “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,” but with “Pretty. Odd.,” I was disappointed.

Where did the techno go?

The Las Vegas quartet’s first album had a fun and funky techno feel to many of the songs. They were fast-paced and had catchy chorus lines. With the loss of the exclamation point in the band’s name, Panic at the Disco also lost the energy an exclamation point indicates.

Instead, there’s an older, vintage feel to the music. I can definitely detect traces of older band influences. (Think “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys.) It sounds like 50’s music with contemporary themes. As I listen to it, I can imagine it in vinyl on a record player. The sound just isn’t as modern as that of the first album.

The similarities to the first album are in the inventive lyric-threading and use of orchestral instruments. Ryan Ross, guitarist and songwriter, did keep his creative and complex writing style.

Unfortunately, the band lies: In the first track on the new album, members sing, “You don’t have to worry, because we’re still the same band.” Really, though, they’re not.

I don’t hate this album, but I don’t love it either. If you’re expecting something along the same lines of “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,” I suggest not buying it until you’ve heard it and decided you like it.

“Pretty. Odd.” is different enough from the first album to make me wrinkle my nose. Many of the songs are slow, and the lyrics can be awkward to sing along to. But there’s a lullaby quality to them that is appealing. They’re soft songs, recorded quietly, that have an a capella element. Like I said, it is as though it’s an entirely different band.

The lyrics are simple in some songs, but in others are so complex they’re hard to dissect. There’s tons of repetition, though. I heard “All was golden when the day met the night” seven times in one song, which was followed by “summer” being repeated what seems like a million more times. This does get the songs stuck in your head pretty quickly, and the melodies are simple enough that you find yourself singing or humming parts to yourself at the most random times.

Instead of Brendon Urie, the vocalist and pianist, doing all the singing, each member — Ryan Ross, drummer Spencer Smith and bassist Jon Walker — take turns at the mic. It’s interesting listening, trying to figure out which voice belongs to which member.

Another change I both love and hate: song titles are much shorter. “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” had extremely long titles. “Pretty. Odd.” on the other hand, has titles that are very much normal length. Most are three words per title, with a few exceptions on the 13-track album.

“Nine in the Afternoon,” the first single from “Pretty. Odd.” is a good indicator as to how the rest of the album sounds. It’s dreamlike, romantic and imaginative.

At first listen, I would have given the album three out of five stars, but now that I’ve had time to listen to it and get used to the new sound, I give it a four out of five stars.

- Alex Bacon is in Eisenhower High School’s Class of 2008.