In their self-titled debut album, Metro Station offers a familiar blend of electro-pop beats and lyrics worthy of any rock band. While not exactly revolutionary, since they sound like a blend of Hellogoodbye and Motion City Soundtrack, they are infectious and fun. This California based band, fronted by Trace Cyrus, half-brother of Disney Channel star Miley Cyrus, was a Myspace sensation before he was signed by Columbia/Red Ink. Since then, the band has become more popular and is now on tour with Motion City Soundtrack, one of the major influences in Metro Station’s music. Cyrus said, “To work with someone I look up to was just incredible. They took our sound we had and added their twist on it,” according to music website azcentral.com. On their first single, “Kelsey,” Metro Station mixed quieter verses with a synthesizer heavy chorus to create a touching, though somewhat overdramatic, love song. Although the track is catchy, it is slightly repetative and never seems to go anywhere. In fact, the only thing listeners get out of the song is that the band would do anything for Kelsey, a sentiment which they relay to the listener over a contagious pop beat. Overall, this feel-good tune will get stuck in your head and it’s almost impossible to listen to the song more than once without singing along. Easily one of the catchiest songs on their CD (and that’s saying something on a CD this infectious), “California” is an electro-pop ode to running away. This song has an almost unrelenting beat coupled with a chorus that is purely pop. Surprisingly, repetition works for this song. Despite the fact that the chorus is repeated five times, the song does not get old (or at least it has not yet). The band’s saving grace is that they pair emotional lyrics with light beats that keep them from getting too heavy or entering the territory of alternative-emo, which is dominated by bands such as Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional. This could not be clearer on a song like “California,” where the light beat is all that counteracts the heavy lyrics. The song “Seventeen Forever” is what clinched Metro Station’s status as Myspace stars on the rise. “Seventeen Forever” topped the Myspace unsigned band charts and piqued the interest of Columbia Records. This song takes a bit longer to break out the bubbly beats, and Trace Cyrus seems to wail a bit more, but in the end what makes this song worthwhile is what makes the listener and thousands of Myspace fans love the album: the infectious beats and catchy choruses. “Shake It” is a song that seems to be made for dancing and singing along. Their synthesized rhythm is at its best, and their lyrics are simple, memorable and fun. “Shake It” is a valuable asset to “Metro Station” because the song breaks off from the rest of the album by offering lyrics that are amusing and upbeat. While “Metro Station” sounds like a hybrid of a couple current bands (Namely Motion City Soundtrack, Hellogoodbye and Cobra Starship), the album is not one to pass by. Despite the lyrics, this is an album that cheers the listener up instead of bringing them down. After just a few listens, you’ll have at least four new pop anthems worth turning up and feeling guilty about loving
