Move over Chris Carraba, there's a new emo king in town and he's ready to try to steal away your young, sighing female fans. Onelinedrawing, the alter ego of Sacramento's Jonah Matranga, bears eerie similarities to unexpected MTV staple Dashboard Confessional; personal, heartfelt lyrics, the loud/soft dynamic typical of the genre, comparable vocals, even a song where the audience sings along (annoyingly in both cases, I might add) to the chorus. Unfortunately, The Volunteers isn't much more interesting or original than that which has come before.
Not to think I'm just a total hater, I have been known to enjoy a Onelinedrawing song here and there. I dare you to listen to the song "Smile" off of 2002's The Visitor and not, well, smile. But nothing on this record stands out like "Smile" did in any way. "Over It" contains the aforementioned audience sing-along. You can almost picture the audience members, arms over each other's shoulders, swaying and chanting "let me get over it!" in unison. "We Had a Deal" is probably one of the catchier and more musically appealing songs on the album, but with lyrics pulled from Little Orphan Annie ("Tomorrow, tomorrow/ I'll love ya tomorrow"), the cheese factor ends up getting the best of it. In fact, more irritating to me than the derivative style are the cheesy lyrics that run throughout the album. More than one track goes on about how love will eventually get us to heaven and such, and the sickly, sugary sweetness of it all just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
There's clearly an audience for Onelinedrawing, and that audience could make Jonah Matranga as successful as his counterparts doing the sad-boy-with-guitar thing. Fans of Onelinedrawing's older albums will find The Volunteers to be fuller musically and instrumentally than the spare, minimalist songs he penned in the past, and many could see that as an improvement. Unfortunately, this album is just too contrived for it to work for my discerning tastes.
1. New York
2. Over It
3. A Ghost
4. Superhero
5. Stay
6. We Had A Deal
7. Oh, Boys
8. Livin' Small
9. Believer
10. Portland
11. As Much To Myself As You 1. New York
2. Over It
3. A Ghost
4. Superhero
5. Stay
6. We Had A Deal
7. Oh, Boys
8. Livin' Small
9. Believer
10. Portland
11. As Much To Myself As You