Album Review: Matchbox Twenty - Where The Light Goes

It wasn't that long ago when I thought all the bands from my formative years were done making music I would ever care about again. But after a down period, Dave Matthews Band came back with the wonderful "Away From The World" to remind me that giving us may be too easy. While my favorite band has yet to release a new album just yet, but The Wallflowers made up for the only dud of their career by coming back with "Exit Wounds", which is a marvelous album I continue to find myself enchanted by. And now, a decade after Matchbox Twenty disappointed me with their more pop-leaning and forgettable last effort, they too have decided t give it another go so long after their heyday.

The reason I was so disappointed in "North" was the feeling the band had abandoned everything they were to go chasing the pop trend once again. "Mad Season" was also a pop record, but in a weird way that was only accidentally successful. "North" came across much more calculated, and given how Rob Thomas has spent his solo career trying to replicate whatever adult pop these days is, it makes sense why the band hasn't released anything in so long.

This record should come as no surprise then. Once again, all vestiges of the Matchbox Twenty that made "Yourself Or Someone Like You" and "More Than You Think You Are" have been erased, replaced with the blander sensibility of a band that wants to be the less embarrassing version of Maroon 5's selling out.

That doesn't make me happy. I wish I didn't have to say this stuff, since those three Matchbox records were hugely important to me, and I've found myself listening to them a lot again recently. I would love nothing more than to be able to get back on board with a band that has meant so much to me, the way I have with The Wallflowers. But while that band updated their sound while bringing back their identity, I don't get that impression here. This does feel like a Rob Thomas solo album, and those have been getting worse with each one.

It's that age-old story about people growing in different directions. The band and I have different ideas of which way we're heading, and while there are a couple of songs here I could find myself enjoying, it's not a record I'm ever going to feel deeply about. They are now a band of my past, and until and unless they decide to embrace that past, I don't think we're ever going to see eye-to-eye again.