Review Summary: Eureka! Offensive radio pop
Independent and on their own, Rooney have started to pull from a number of musical directions to make their alternative radio pop, past and present. Everything about that last sentence screams “
summary!” - I know, but it’s really the ideal way to approach the writing of a review for Rooney’s third full-length,
Eureka. Prosaically, the Los Angeles quintet have always been known to mix and match influences, most often cited as an 80s recall of slender pop music, or even early 90s British invasion rock. On this album, though, now more than ever, the band’s creative energies become a wondering vacuum of a theiving nature, pulling resources from the likes of a distant
Steely Dan and a most definitive caricature of
Tom Petty – or rather,
plundering and
stealing their property for a cash-in, right from under those artists’ noses.
Make no mistake, though;
Eureka is not an unbalanced-sounding album, or is it even overtly diversified in its elements. The production values, as first glistened and set for display on Rooney’s self-titled in 2003 and
Calling the World in 2007, still border, and often reside, in the realm of tawdry extravagance: crystal clean and shamelessly revealing. Any actual
borrowing takes place within the actual hooks and occasional lyrics of the songs themselves. Robert Schwartzman acts
too cool to actually be considered cool in the repeated keyboard riff on “Only Friend”, sneaking in a hand to steal
Harry Nilson’s last cookie – or in this case, only friend. A simple piano playing brings ol' Steely Dan to the party on “Stars and Stripes”, Schwartzman taking an active stance on
John Mayer’s passive “Waiting on the World to Change”: "
It’s gonna take the world to change / It’s time to start helpin’ each other.”
Pointing fingers and identifying the victims aside, not all is well in the Rooney camp as far as the strength of the hooks go and how exactly well
Eureka sounds as a light-weighted radio pop album. The use of the term
inoffensive has been a staple of Rooney’s repertoire for a while now, seemingly implemented with finesse in the past to sooth the angry and, alongside the band members' cited good looks, bring in the ladies. Its use was also one of the reasons why “When Did Your Heart Go Missing” was an overseas success in the UK in 2007 and “I’m Shakin” was a featured highlight in the television show
The O.C.; but on
Eureka, however, it’s taken to a whole new level, beyond anything that might actually help the band's agenda for success. Barring the infectious “I Can’t Get Enough”, a song that sounds like what
Weezer might put out
if they really did collaborate with
Timbaland, the album has a hard time finding an identity and positioning any key standouts, much less staying consistently good.
Closer “Don’t Look at Me”, a song that pulls a lyrical u-turn on the we're-making-it-through course that opener “Holdin’ On” starts
Eureka out on, has the band wallowing in the self-esteem issues of Schwartzman, featuring a wealth of lines perfectly suited for summing up the band’s third release: “
Don’t look at me / I’m a disgrace", ”
I’m no good / Yeah, I’m no good,” and, my favorite, nailing and bettering every point made thus far, “
I’m getting old / Yeah, I’m getting old.” You see, Rooney do make inoffensive pop music - though they admittedly did it better and with less shame in years past – but on
Eureka, they’ve clearly run out of ideas, pulling even more so from those that came before them to make a processed, by-the-numbers radio pop album that just cannot find a way to stand out. The hooks are too dull, the homage is too obvious, and the production is just overtly saccharine.
You know, all things considered, maybe it really
is offensive after all.
