The young man as tortured artist is a form as old as the history of pop songcraft.
So it is hard to knock the Irish band The Script for riding that wave in a career from their self-titled 2008 debut through the 2010 hit Science &Faith and this bit of a wing stretch #3.
As always, the front of the sound is the pliable and distinctive tenor of Danny O'Donoghue.
Some of the wing stretches are stylistic - a move of O'Donoghue into rap and spoken word on several of the album's tracks. As on the predecessor Science &Faith, there is a collaboration.
This time, O'Donoghue duets with rapper (and fellow coach on the television show The Voice UK) will.i.am in "Hall Of Fame," the album's hit debut single.
However, this album also contains several more songs where O'Donoghue's spoken word is at the forefront on, at least, the stanzas.
The more significant wing stretch is in subject line.
Disposable pop about relationships in progress or disarray - the raison d'être for the Script until now - is stretched out here with some real-life reflections.
O'Donoghue and Sheehan share songwriting duties. The death of Sheehan's parents during his childhood and O'Donoghue's dad in recent years is the spark of the lead single "Hall of Fame," while the dissolution of O'Donoghue's longtime relationship with model Irma Malu is the direct spark behind the pop anthem with hooks "Six Degrees Of Separation."
The band of men now in their early 30s starts to look at the years that will come ahead with the rose-coloured view of youth in the album opener "Good Ol' Days."
Elsewhere, they deepen themes of faith and questioning that have marked some of their previous work in tracks like "Give the Love Around," "Broken Arrow," and "Millionaires." They also traverse familiar terrain in themes of love treasured (Glowing) and sought ("No Words," "Kaleidoscope").
The Script: #3 - Epic/ Phonogenic/Sony
Source: The Daily Gleaner
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