The Morning Of

Ah, more bright, shiny pop-rock full of nasally boy/girl vocals and a dash of piano. The Morning Of’s youthful spark and overwhelmingly positive cadence make them sound like the younger, more playful siblings of bands like Mae, Copeland, and the Anniversary, yet it’s not enough to separate them from the ever-growing number of brightly clad, cheeky photograph-taking Warped Tour hopefuls they call contemporaries.

The World as We Know It, with all of its cute lyrics (see “It’s a feeling like fireworks that explode inside my chest / Your kiss creates the spark that ignites my very best / There’s a rumor and I know you know it’s true / That you’ve got my heart locked inside your room") and cheerful hooks, isn’t intrinsically bad. With the exception of the attempted pretensions of spoken word opener “Goodbye Gravity, Welcome Change” and the embarrassing psuedo-screamo of “There’s a Bully in the Park,” the songs here are simple and catchy bursts with pristine production and easily hummed melodies. The problem is that it takes much more than that to stand out in today’s MySpace-dominated musical landscape where quality recordings and pop chops aren’t that hard to come by.

I could insult individual tracks here or belittle what may be an important project for this band, but it doesn’t even seem worth baring my critical teeth. Like I’ve already said, this is more shiny pop-rock full of nasally boy/girl vocals and a dash of piano, and that’s it.