It's been four years since the piano-rock band released an album, but the band is back with the same great music.
The third album is called "People and Things" and if you like the two previous albums, you will definitely like the third album. It doesn't top their first album "Everything in Transit," but lead singer Andrew McMahon never fails to impress. The albums first single "My Racing Thoughts" hit the internet over the summer when McMahon performed it on the band's summer tour. The song is just like all other Jack's Mannequin songs, piano rock, upbeat with beautiful lyrics only McMahon can think of.
But McMahon spiced up the album with a couple different songs you wouldn't suspect Jack's Mannequin to make. "No Man is an Island" is a slower piano ballad with a gospel beat, crooning about relationships.
Like all the songs in the album, the songs dives into deeper meanings than the previous two. Back in 2005, McMahon was diagnosed with leukemia right when their first album was supposed to come out. In their second album, "The Glass Passenger," many songs referenced doctors and hospital visits. "People and Things" talks about life and death (especially the song "Hey Hey Hey (We're All Gonna Die), a surprisingly upbeat song about death). It's deals with more profound topics than teenage angst like in "Everything in Transit."
One of best songs on the album is a song that sounds like something Mumford and Sons would sing. "Restless Dream" that songs a bit like Bob Dylan acoustic guitar playing. Jack's Mannequin is known for their piano melodies, but "Restless Dream" is one of the only Jack's Mannequin songs that has no piano in it, not even a chord. Strictly acoustic guitar while McMahon talks about an nostalgic letter he writes.
Piano or guitar, "People and Things" delivers. It's worth the wait for Jack's Mannequin fans, and again, McMahon is a songwriting God. He never fails.
