:: Plain White T’s - Every Second Counts

Plain White T’s

After years of slogging it out in small clubs and playing support to bigger name acts for close to a decade, USA based pop-punk/rock act Plain White T’s finally found some mainstream success with the release of their third full-length effort ‘All That We Needed’ a year after its release following the runaway success of their hit single ‘Hey There Delilah’ in 2006. After celebrating their newfound popularity with their stop-gap ‘Hey There Delilah’ EP from the same year, the five-piece act have made the move up to Hollywood Records for their forth full-length effort ‘Every Second Counts’, which will undoubtedly be their watershed release. The appropriately titled single ‘Our Time Now’ is a lively opening track that sees the band openly embrace their pop sensibilities with its infectious chorus hooks and its huge backing vocal harmonies. But for all the lightweight pop elements hinted at within the opening track, ‘Come Back To Me’ and the hit single ‘Hate (I Really Don’t Like You)’ shows that the band haven’t abandoned their rock tendencies one bit. From here, the album jumps between breezy pop-punk numbers (‘You And Me’, ‘Gimme A Chance’ and the energetic ‘Figure It Out’) and huge melodic rock anthems (‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Dial Drunk’, ‘So Damn Clever’ and ‘Tearin’ Us Apart’), with a few slower numbers (‘Making A Memory’ and the lush ‘Let Me Take You There’) to give the album a bit of variety. In fact, the only song that disappoints is the acoustic based ‘Write You A Song’. Obviously attempting to recapture the mood that spawned ‘Hey There Delilah’, all the band have managed to do, is come up with something that comes close, but instead comes across as a little forced and lacklustre compared to the original. As an added bonus, the Australian release of ‘Every Second Counts’ contains the hit singles ‘Hey There Delilah’ and ‘Take Me Away’ from ‘All That We Needed’. Although a little more refined and pop sounding than ‘All That We Needed’, Plain White T’s fourth full-length effort is sure to please those who are willing to accept that there’s more to the band than that one well known song.