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Marykate O'Neil music review
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Marykate O'Neil 1-800-Bankrupt
Seventy-One
Marykate O’Neil’s first album, released four years ago, was an amiable blend of folk and pop, something fundamentally more than the so-called “singer-songwriter” genre. How disappointing, then, that her sophomore effort falls into all the wrong holes; O’Neil’s spark seems to have departed, leaving only Byrdsy pop and overstated lyrics in its wake.
Track listing:
01 I'm Ready For My Luck To Turn Around
02 Stay
03 Susan Fingerle
04 Things Are Not To Good (They're Bound To Go Bad)
05 Past All The Stars
06 Why Don't You Visit
07 Secret War
08 I Sleep With My Clothes On
09 A.D.D
10 Remember The Year We We're Normal
11 Since You've Been Away
12 You'll Be Sorry
13 Not Listed
But the good news first. “Things Are Too Good’ has the irrepressible joy of a Sgt.Pepper-era Beatles tune, complete with chorus and instrumentation, but it’s merely a blip in the radar - the rest of the CD is Lillith Fair lite, complete with lyrics lamenting the cruelty of men and the resilience of broken hearts. Yawn. It’s the quirky tunes that stand out - like “Remember the Year That We Were Normal,” or the emotional devastation of “I Sleep With My Clothes On.” After all, how many folk songwriters sing about swallowing “spoonfuls of codeine”?
But the problem comes with tracks like the clumsy, tune-free “Past All the Stars,” and the aimless misery of “A.D.D,” as well as the dirge that is “The Sky is Falling.” The forced light-heartedness of “You’ll Be Sorry” sounds forced in context of so much blasé sadness. In fact the most interesting thing about this CD is the face behind it: Jill Sobule, who appears as co-writer and co-producer, and whose influence is inescapable. O’Neil simply sounds played-out; never bored herself (far too sincere) but boring, lacking a fundamental spark or electricity, relying on lyrical clichés and trite metaphors. Whereas artists like Sobule, Joni Mitchell or Aimee Mann (all of whom resonate with this album) take their cues from original and heart-rending sentiment, O’Neil brings nothing new to the table. It’s not bad, necessarily. It’s just dull.
