Folie A Deux By Fall Out Boy

You’re really going to have to be a big fan of Fall Out Boy to like their new album, Folie A Deux. Put flatly, the new record lacks the zest, passion and style of the band’s past work, specifically the unique attitude that 2007’s Infinity On High held.

“Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes” opens the CD, (yes, that band have never been one to name their songs anything normal) and it confuses listeners right from the beginning, with it’s organ-tinted start. It then seems that Pete Wentz was too busy off playing house to pay attention to songwriting, because “retox,” as Patrick Stump sings here, is not a word. (Nor is Bronx Mowgli Wentz a baby name – but that’s a whole different argument).

The first single, “I Don’t Care” comes up next and is rather easily mistaken for a Blondie song with its disco-tinted backbeat. If listeners manage to get past this, they will find the “I don’t care what you think as long as it’s about me” chorus rather catchy. But that’s a big if.

The band shows their advancing years on “She’s My Winona,” singing about the effect the birth of a child has on life. This is likely to have no relevance to their adolescent audience and so lose them completely.

“Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet,” “(Coffee’s For Closers)” and “What A Catch, Donnie” segue into a mix of mediocre rock, with “The (Shipped) Gold Standard” being a high point with its lyrical wit and class.

The record slowly moves onto “Tiffany Blews” and “20 Dollar Nose Bleed,” which are perfect examples of the band overcrowding their songs with influences from too many different genres. Soul-tinted rock music is rarely a hit and it’s a mystery as to why the band thought they could pull it off.

If Fall Out Boy plans to carry on in this vein, they need to find a new genre and a new audience, because Folie A Deux is not the emo-punk we’ve come to expect, and it won’t appeal to the same audience as before. Luckily enough, if you have the stamina to power through and repeat the whole album six to eight times, it will begin to grow on you. But this is why, as previously stated, you’ll really have to be a big fan of the band to like Folie A Deux.