The closing number, “Maya The Psychic,” is a positively jubiliant glam-pop rave-up, steeped in tons of multitracked vocals and buzzing amps while Way discusses a clairvoyant character who doesn’t see her mental fragility as a gift, but as a personality trait (“If giving in is pointless/Then get out of bed or this might be the end”). The majestic “How It’s Going To Be” conveys sentiments of his pre-9/11 life in New Jersey (“You made a promise then you hide/And you said we’d all be dead by 25”), sounding like one-part Paul Simon’s Graceland and one-part feel-good Disney movie soundtrack. The upright piano on “Brother” gives a Britpop flavor to the construct of the American FM rock power ballad it’s also the closest antecedent to Way’s previous band. The album sports a number of furious rockers (“Zero Zero,” “Action Cat”), the best being “Juarez,” where Way sounds like he’s at the end of his rope trying to navigate the tide pool of charging guitars and manic synthesizers crashing him against the rocks. The proceedings start off with “The Bureau,” where the lumbering riff conveys a great sense of menace, as Way reminds his listeners that “everybody’s getting on tonight,” as recordings of subway trains and U.K. Those songs are pretty damned great, heavily centered on guitars (of the crunching, stabbing, buzzing and jangling varieties) and Way’s trademarked swagger that’s remains attitudinal, even at points when his mood turns a bit more melancholy. In addition to adopting a playlist aesthetic covering decades of his favorite performers (David Bowie, Pixies, the Smiths, the Jesus And Mary Chain, etc.), he’s also created an album of standalone songs, freeing him from writing chapters relating to and in service of the overarching concepts he helped construct on MCR’s releases. With the release of Hesitant Alien, Way will have to upgrade his output to a bigger capacity, considering the stylistic breadth going on across these 11 tracks. He referred to those works as “small music,” because they fell outside MCR’s need to make big gestures with massive production values. Back when My Chemical Romance were still working on their ill-fated fifth album, Gerard Way was working on some songs for his own enjoyment.
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