“Change will come,” Patrick Stump sings on “(Coffee’s for Closers),” a typically excitable cut from the new Fall Out Boy album. Considering that the Chicago band’s original plan to release “Folie a Deux” on Election Day, that lyric was likely intended as a tip of the hoodie to Barack Obama Now it plays more like an acknowledgement of the evolution of FOB’s sound, which since 2005’s breakthrough ” From Under the Cork Tree ” has taken on new complexities without losing the fist-pumping qualities that made Stump and his bandmates mall-punk superstars. “Folie” is easily the group’s most adventurous outing… Read more »
Given Fall Out Boy’s penchant for publicity stunts (see this year’s nixed attempt to set a Guinness World Record by playing in Antarctica, followed by successfully setting the record for Most Interviews On Radio In a 24 Hour Period By A Pair of Two after talking to 72 radio stations), it should come as no surprise that the band celebrated yesterday’s release of Folie à Deux with a 36-hour New York promotional blitz that involved a nearly free show, performing on late-night TV and almost getting arrested. Over the weekend, Pete Wentz posted cryptic teasers on his blog for two… Read more »
Gotta hand it to Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz and company: The hardworking, blue-collar Midwestern pop-punkers-with-an-emo-attitude have gotten ever savvier and, dare I say, more mature with their songwriting and song-arranging. Consequently, “Folie a Deux,” (French for “madness shared by two”) may be one of the year’s most surprising albums. A tactfully produced (Neil Avron/Pharell Williams) affair that steers the Chicago-area band more toward the pop mainstream without sacrificing Fall Out Boy’s anthemic brashness, the band’s fifth album represents the zenith of its seven-year career. Some tracks — “I Don’t Care” with its “Spirit in the Sky” guitars and the zippy… Read more »