My Dinosaur Life By Motion City Soundtrack

Anyone who’s ever written Motion City Soundtrack off as a vacuous pop group should safely be kicked right out of the arena with the arrival of the band’s new album, My Dinosaur Life. This, the Minnesota band’s fourth album, holds some of the lyrical wit of Bowling For Soup and the catchy hooks of We The Kings but seems to be backed up and powered by something a little heavier and more spiteful than any of these pop-producing bands, and it makes their music quite compelling.

There are still a fair amount of upbeat and punkish poppy tunes on the record – “A Lifeless Ordinary,” “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” and “Skin And Bones,” but they appear to be filler tunes more than anything else. They’ll keep your foot tapping mindlessly as you segue between the really good songs on the record.

These come in the form of “Disappear,” a full-speed-ahead, angry drums and quick vocals-type of song, and “Delirium” during which vocalist Justin Pierre sounds like he comes right out of the ‘90s and the Barenaked Ladies.

After these two songs, Motion City Soundtrack then gets really angry in the most delightful of ways on “!@#?@!” in ways that can’t be repeated in this wholesome review, but you’re likely to love this melodic and catchy way of giving someone the middle finger, and fans will be singing it repeatedly.

“Pulp Fiction” also deserves kudos for its driving guitars and the quick change to a lilting bridge rhythm that carries the listeners with it. And finally, “The Weakends” finishes the record off on a Fall Out Boy-ish note with bouncy, punk rhythms and another catchy chorus from Pierre.

My Dinosaur Life holds a fair few musical tangents that have the potential to spiral off separately, but luckily the slick production courtesy of Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus provides a unifying melodic thread through the record and ties it into some very fine music indeed.