When Jason Lancaster parted ways with Mayday Parade, fans of
the band were devastated. The perception at the time was that neither party
would create worthwhile music without the other. For a while, it appeared that
this perception had become the truth. Mayday Parade’s subsequent full lengths
Anywhere But Here and the self-titled Mayday Parade LP suffered from a lack of
depth in the songwriting department, and Lancaster’s own Go Radio project
produced 2010’s Lucky Street, an album that, despite showing promise, doesn’t
contain the excitement fans were used to from Lancaster projects. 2012 might be
the year that Lancaster is able to finally shed the shadow of his work with
Mayday Parade however, as Go Radio has done something truly special with their
sophomore full-length Close The Distance.
The album starts out with a glorious bang. The opening track
"I Won't Lie" kicks off with a chorus of “oh’s” that brings an uplifting feeling, before giving way to Lancaster's distinctive heavily-accented drawl. The
song is a beautiful lament to a love that is breaking down. Lancaster longs to
get every feeling he has experienced with this love in the open, before it’s
too late. “You are the way my heart beats, and you are the words my tongue
speaks, I will die if you leave me.” The music climaxes into the best bridge of
the band’s career, with Lancaster’s voice straining as he belts, “I wanna see
the hope, I wanna feel the love, I wanna hear what you say when I say, I won’t
lie.” This is an album about trying to hold on to hope and desire for the things
that matter in your life, and it’s apparent from the very first song of the
album. Sometimes, however, hope isn’t possible.
“Go To Hell” is perhaps the best indication that this is
still the same man that wrote “When I Get Home, You’re So Dead.” The bitterness
of the chorus is apparent from the biting way Lancaster almost snarls out the
words, “Go to hell, if you’re reading these words.” The song is an odd thumb out on an album of uplifting tracks, but it is so infectious that it's hard not to love it.
The instrumental flourishes, such as the violin accompaniment
to the tender piano ballad “What If You Don’t” extenuates the sadness in
Lancaster’s voice and words. Every
melody is so precisely selected to bring out the emotion of the song that much
more. This is the kind of album that creates stars. Lancaster is a pretty
well-regarded song writer already, but once major labels get a hold of the
songwriting talent on this album, his work will be in high demand. Attentions
won’t be on just Go Radio (though if there is any justice in the music
industry, they will draw attention), but on Lancaster himself to become a
co-writer for major labels. Quite simply, lyric and melody combinations this
special don’t come around too often.
Perhaps the one drawback for fans of Jason Lancaster's other work is that, because the focus is on Lancaster's improved vocal command and the lyrics, there is a significant lack of upbeat pop-punk numbers like "Any Other Heart" from Lucky Street. Instead, there are a lot of piano-piano driven mid-tempo rockers. Perhaps the best comparison to make is: this album is what Jack's Mannequin's Everything In Transit would sound like if Lancaster had fronted that band instead of Andrew McMahon.
Bottom Line: To reference "Any Other Heart", if any other piece of Jason Lancaster's music career spoke louder than Close the Distance, I haven't heard it yet. Close the Distance is the distinctive work in the singer/songwriter's career and show a tremendous amount of promise for the future of Go Radio. This album is leaps and bounds above Lucky Street, and that's saying quite a bit already.
Recommended if you Rock: Mayday Parade (obviously,) Jack's Mannequin, The Fray but better.
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