After his band Something Corporate decided to take a sabbatical in 2004, Andrew McMahon found himself writing a collection of introspective piano-driven songs. They were inspired by his return to Orange County and his attempt to reconnect with the people he had left behind when he departed to tour with Something Corporate. In 2005, on the day he finished mastering the last song, at 22 years of age, he was diagnosed with leukaemia. Two months later his album, under the moniker of Jack’s Mannequin, was released. EVERYTHING IN TRANSIT, which was never officially released in the UK, entered the Billboard Top 40.

McMahon fortunately recovered with treatment and over the next two years recorded with producer Jim Wirt (Incubus) THE GLASS PASSENGER.

“THE GLASS PASSENGER is not about recovering from cancer, it’s just about recovering. I was trying to use the music to sort through and reconcile with the adversity of my past,” says McMahon. “The completion of the album and its release represents the closing of a chapter. It was a difficult time, but also one of immense hope. It was during this period that my music and my life were the most seamlessly bound together - a truth that makes the album’s release far more pleasing for me than most could ever imagine.”

So how good is the album? In a year of truly wonderful releases (thus far) while it may not rank amongst the very best it deserves interest as a well-written and performed collection of pop-rock songs. It’s a chronicle of feelings and events - the closing chapter of an uneasy, difficult chapter in McMahon’s life. Opener ‘Crashin’ starts with the line, “I want to hear some music Now they’re driving us all underground” - a reflection on the struggle to write again after illness and doubts as to whether anybody will actually want to listen. It’s a hook laden, fast moving song with great lyrics; a powerful opening… ‘Spinning’ is slower, more contemplative but with explosive choruses, while next track ‘Swim’ slows to a trickle with keyboards lurking in the background and another set of incendiery choruses to carry it along. Lyrically ‘Swim’ is a feast with a strong hint that writing and performing is as much for others as it is for him - to sink or swim.

‘American Love’ and ‘What Gets You Off’ fail to hit the mark for me but then ‘Suicide Blonde’ signals a recovery and in rocky style. Pick of the remaining tracks are ‘Bloodshot’ with its darker, heavier rock ambience and the beautiful, stark and piano-led ‘Hammers And Strings (A Lullaby).’

THE GLASS PASSENGER is an album that will not please those looking for quick, cheap thrills. It deserves careful listening because the writing is so strong, with lyrics that come from deep within. Musically it also offers a diversity of pace and sufficient melody to ‘open the door’ to the listener. Strongly recommended.

4/5