If a picture paints a thousand words, so does a band name - and Plain White T's are as predictably innocuous as their moniker suggests. Graduates of the same emo-tinted pop-punk school as Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy, (but without a distinction in grammar, it would seem), Plain White T's first came to mass attention this summer, when their song 'Hey There Delilah' became an international hit. Surprisingly, it's one of the few songs on their third album, Every Second Counts, that doesn't adhere to the 'power chord' strategy that's otherwise flogged relentlessly, and is a quietly simple acoustic pop song that your mum would probably quite like. The remainder of the album sees the Chicagoan quintet belt out a squall of mostly sub-three-minute pop-punk tunes that are irritatingly devoid of musical (a verse of sharply melodic riffs give way to a chorus of layered, postured vocals) and lyrical ('Oh girl, you left me, why? I love you.. now I hate you.. bitch!' etc.) diversity. Sadly, the most enjoyable tracks here are the ones that sound like Busted/McFly (Making A Memory, Figure It Out), although Let Me Take You There's unadulterated pop-rock is almost reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World's more melodic moments. Otherwise, this is just another uncreative and unoriginal collection of songs for teenage boys to bump chests to.
