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November 2, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > Train’s Monahan unsuccesfully attempts solo sound in Seven

Train’s Monahan unsuccesfully attempts solo sound in Seven

By Sean McBeath | Thresher Editorial Staff

Train fans waiting with bated breath for Pat Monahan’s debut solo album, Last of Seven, should now exhale. Despite his tenure as Train’s lead singer, Monahan fails to carry over much of Train’s musical majesty. Rather, he seems to spend time avoiding the sounds that have made him successful in the past.

It is unclear whether Monahan took a large bribe from the Choir Singers’ Union when he was recording Last of Seven or if he simply fell on his head. Either way, an overabundance of a background choir drags this album to the depths. Given the variety of styles with which he filled this release, Monahan probably thought that the choir would help distinguish his sound from Train’s. But it merely distracts from Monahan’s own singing, randomly punctuating lines with no special meaning and filling minute-long instrumental gaps that would have been better off left alone.

That is not to say that Monahan’s experimentation is not refreshing, as he takes on styles from rock to piano ballads to something in the range of hip-hop. But even though audiences will appreciate Monahan’s forays into new territory, disorganization within the album makes it feel merely jumpy.

After a brief and troubled opening, Last of Seven settles into a relative monotony of somewhat predictable and dull numbers. The single from this album, “Her Eyes,” is nowhere near the finest offering here. It has a sound redolent of Jason Mraz’s “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” but Monahan’s rhymes and delivery have neither the catch nor the skill to make it believable or worthwhile. Lines like “She’s got the kind of strength every man wishes he had / She loved Michael Jackson up until he made Bad”bring into question whether his rhyming dictionary was lost.

Given the grace with which Monahan and Train handled the love song genre with refreshingly original lyrics and soundtracks, this track feels hollow.

But Monahan does manage to convert even the sappiest of songs into something bearable. “Cowboys and Indians,” which opens with the lines “Cowboys and Indians / heteros and gays / blacks and whites / and all of their ways / they’re all dancing underneath the moon,” is perhaps the sappiest song written since John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Despite the maudlin nature of its lyrics, “Cowboys and Indians” does something that Monahan manages only once on this album: Use choir vocals effectively. Rather than flooding his choruses with their chanting, they join in only at appropriate times.

The standout tracks on this album, not surprisingly, are those that stay close to Train’s well-wrought style. “Two Ways to Say Goodbye” and “Pirate on the Run” both rise above the drab offerings that make up the rest of the album.

“Two Ways to Say Goodbye,” the only track that Monahan authored alone, follows more in the footsteps of previous efforts like “All-American Girl” and “Drops of Jupiter” in its lyrics. Monahan sounds at home in this style of song — unlike the more divergent tracks. “Pirate on the Run” should probably have been the single released from this album; unfortunately, it would serve as poor advertising. Monahan, while not bad, is quickly eclipsed by Brandi Carlile’s outstanding vocals in this duet. The “Pirates” arrangement is nothing grand or new, but stays simple and does not distract from the lyrics, which are the true value of this number.

Last of Seven is a valiant effort as a freshman album; its variety keeps it exciting enough to allow audiences to forgive the lack of value in some of its songs. Ultimately, it feels as if Monahan was rushed into a sound that is not his. Regardless, the album makes for some good listening, but do not bother listening too closely.

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