It’s been a decade since Hanson hit with “MMMBop”, the chart-topper they will forever associated with, and dismissed by. Yet the bubblegum trio’s slight image was belied from the jump by its forthright, well, seriousness. Fans know not only that “MMMBop” was catchy as hell but that it might just be the catchiest song ever about life’s transitory nature, just as their debut album, Middle Of Nowhere, is among the more death-obsessed discs you’ll ever hear.
Released on their own indie label, The Walk is the group’s fifth studio album and finds the brothers as earnest and ambitious as ever, with backing vocals from Soweto’s Dliwayo School Choir and choruses of minimalist poetry like “Live, learn, life, love, die, dust, gone.” As always, though, it’s the music that really satisfies. Lead singer Taylor Hanson (this’ll make you feel old: he’s got three little Hansons of his own now) remains an exuberant blue-eyed soul singer, and his older brother Isaac drops big crunchy guitar chords liberally throughout.
Indeed, the bubblegum teenies have grown into one swell power-poppy guitar band. Seriously: The Walk is for anyone who’s ever been driving around beneath overcast skies, heard “Go All The Way” or “Jesse’s Girl” come on the radio, and felt their hearts lift.
