MOTHXR - Centerfold

MOTHXR
Centerfold
2016
Spotify

The main reason you are hearing anything about the new record Centerfold by MOTHXR is because actor Penn Badgley (of Gossip Girl fame) is a member of the band. Otherwise this one may have slipped through your radar. Centerfold as a record is very of the moment. On it, the band borrow influences from all over to create a sound that has that very hip synth sound and complete with a lethargy that that has the album dragging from minute one. Song after song is begging for some rise in the tempo or a change of pace, but it never happens over the 11 tracks. The title track, "Centerfold", is perhaps the most egregious leaving you with the desire to go and shake the singer just to wake him up. This album is somewhere between The Killers and Cannons in sound, but far less complex both soncialy and lyrically. MOTHXR come across as a band trying to make music that is going to be a hit with their audience rather than really trying something new, and when you write from that perspective you are bound to come up with something that is quite pedestrian. The odd thing however is the little elements that actually do work well. On "Touch" and "Easy" there are these little synth flourishes that sound great, but the song that is built around them never quite reach the level they should.

Another issue with the record is there is very little to seperate each song from the next. The all sound about the same, are named similarly and all run about the same time. By the third or fourth song you have probably heard all you are going to from this record. "Fight the Feeling" is perhaps the most original on the record with it's schizophrenic pacing and delivery but it never gets to the place it promises to take you. MOTHXR has all the right influences and all the right instincts to make great music, but it seems like they just don't have that cutting edge song writing wise to really have them blow up. By the time you reach the final third of the album you have heard all you are going to and the fatigue starts to set in. When tackling electro-pop you have to be ready to deal with 1980s style synths but you can't be beholden to them or your sound becomes dated and stale. MOTHXR may not be the next big thing just yet, but they also aren't a total bust. If they continue down this path it seems enviable that they will eventually arrive at something special. They just aren't there yet.

5.9 out of 10