Artist: Plain White T's

Album: Wonders of the Younger

Label: Hollywood 

If an album can ever be called juvenile as a compliment, the new offering from Plain White T's is that album. As with adolescence itself, Wonders of the Younger has its moments of eye-rolling awkwardness, but Wonders - the third major label offering from the Illinois quintet - succeeds largely because of its wide-eyed fearlessness in tackling a host of musical ideas and attempting to see them through to completion.

With its organizing theme nostalgia for the innocence of childhood, the music follows suit, an eclectic mix which feels a little like the band is still figuring out who they want to be. There's enough of the good stuff to make Wonders a pleasant reminder of the unabashed glory of the simple things like harmony and melody, especially when driven by a go-for-it exuberance. Lead single "Rhythm of Love" coasts on a breezy Train "Hey, Soul Sister" vibe; "Our Song" is a reminder of what a band like Jimmy Eat World does best: a driving pace, stacks of guitars, and a killer hook, and "Boomerang" has a listen-twice chorus with Beatle-esque harmonies. What makes Wonders short of brilliant is what some might call "filler." At its current length of 14 tracks, the album is too long, stuffed with songs either incomplete musically ("Airplane,") or under-developed lyrically ("Killer"). Were this album given the Procrustean treatment and chopped down to 10 tracks, it would sizzle. By far the most enjoyable song on the album is "Broken Record," a streamlined piece of power-pop with a toe-tapping hook so exquisite that somewhere, Fountains of Wayne is wishing they'd come up with it first.

Wonders is occasionally eye-rollingly derivative, as on "Welcome to Mystery," a virtual knock-off of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" with its mentions of "blue tree tops and velvet skies." Paying homage is one thing; this feels more like Lennon and McCartney should be collecting royalties. And "Make it Up as You Go" is a journey into Smashmouth territory; that's a place not worth going very often.

Fortunately, the good here far outweighs the bad. When the T's combine the simplicity of catchy hooks with lyrical sincerity, they succeed in crafting an album liable to reel in new fans by the hamper-full.

*This Review First Published 12/13/2010