Band: Hey Monday
Album: Hold on Tight
Label: Columbia Records, Decaydance
Length: 37:40
Rating: 3.5/5
By: Stuart Paterson
Date: January 16, 2009

Hey Monday’s debut offering delivers just the sort of cheery powerpop one would expect, but with a few subtle perfections that set them apart from other, similar bands.

Most notably, Cassadee Pope’s voice is a real treat. She’s consistently in key and, in general, her tone is incredibly pleasing to the ears. She has a much-appreciated knack for singing fresh vocal lines over tired chords, which elevates their songs a notch above the standard fare.

Also, the snatches of synthesizer playing that occasionally crop up in some intros and breakdowns are refreshing, since bands of this nature rarely utilize keyboards to any significant degree. As it is, they appear only briefly here, but it’s a promising feature to their music that will, hopefully, be expanded in the future.

The album opens strongly with the aptly-titled Set Off; a solid track that sets the tone for the next 36 minutes. The chords are familiar, the chorus is massive, and the musicianship is bang-on.

Homecoming is the first single, and it shows. For starters, it’s in a minor key (whereas almost everything else is major), and it’s got a harder edge to it. All things considered, it’s one of the best songs on the album, if not the best, so it’s a good choice for a breakout single. Let’s hope it gets the airplay it deserves.

Halfway through the album, Candles appears, standing out as a sappy, piano-driven ballad, which would almost feel out of place if it weren’t for the fact that having one or two of these is basically a requirement on an album like this. It’s good for slow dancing, anyway.

Josey covers familiar ground with a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl, which, ironically, is one of the most substantial lyrics Hey Monday presents.

After that, the rest of the songs frequently hearken back to those that came before, until the stark, acoustic album-closer 6 Months. They’re still infectious, but without breaking any new ground. And is that an homage to Céline Dion in Arizona, when Pope sings “I drove all night/just to be with you…”?

What keeps Hey Monday from completely surpassing their peers is that these songs are essentially 11 tracks of catchy hooks and little substance. For example, the intro on Should’ve Tried Harder is very promising, and although that motif reappears throughout the song, their tendency to revert back to the comfort of typical chords is frustrating. Similarly, Pope’s singing on 6 Months is her most expressive performance on the album, but the clichéd acoustic guitar strumming makes the song more awkward than powerful.

That said, it’s important to keep in mind that they’re fitting into a niche, and in that light they have crafted a well-polished debut album. It will be surprising if they don’t make it big in the teen and pre-teen market, because they have all the right ingredients. However, as songs like Homecoming and Should’ve Tried Harder show, they have the potential to move away from the safety net of mainstream powerpop and establish themselves as a unique alternative rock band.