Panic At the Disco’s feverish breakout is something you won’t easily sweat out

Their spirited debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out has been steadily taking hold of respectable sales, modern rock charts, and the obligatory crossover into the mainstream. They’re a band that have frequently been called Fall Out Boy’s ‘brother’ group, so the formula is obviously tried and true, yet this indistinctive Las Vegas outfit have put out (dare I say it) an even better recording than the former, an even bouncier, funner and all-over more singable range. They also squeeze more of a techno pulse into their shtick than their musical relatives, so that some tracks suddenly burst out into an amiable, digital vibe which only adds points to the sweaty sitthrough. They’re... wait... for it... Panic At the Dissssco!

The Motion

I suppose it’s impossible from some points of view for an album not to suffer from the absence of a point in which the listener can catch their breath (aka ballad) to some extent, but A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out is happily short on dull midtempo numbers. The syncopated acoustic chords and buoyant harmonies of the invigoratingly chorused hit single ‘The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage’ suddenly bursts into a synthy, adrenaline-pumping jamtime a minute from the end, and it adds a whole new dimension to the peppy anthem. Like it or not, a heavy majority of the album near-guarantees some genuine foot-tapping and approving nods.

The E-Motion

You wouldn’t think so, on an album that makes so much out of it’s own booming energy and bombast, but lead singer Brendon Urie carries some bone-rattling passion blended with his wahoo tunes, bearing testimony to the fact that the disc is not constructed of catchy, cotton candy. He’s always being comical, we know, but don’t think he can’t put his feelings where his large mouth is. Like on the cunningly intricate mechanisms of unjustly short-titled pre-destined single called ‘Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off.’ The ethereal whistle of sporadic pan pipe arrangements may also help weave some intensity into the hushed explosion to an acute soprano chorus. And when Urie says ‘I’ve got more wit / A better kiss / A hotter touch / A better fuck / Than any boy you’ll ever meet.’ Yeah, that’s authentic charisma, too.

The Sex

Again, it’s not like me to be heaping flattery on a group that can’t get the bedroom out of their brains, but so many of these refreshing after-dinner mints, while hinting now and again at wearisome, canned-joke sexism, gave me such joy to visit. Like with most things, it’s the complimentary instruments rather than the themes which determine how effective the theme really is; A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out is no exception. And the ragtime piano tinkling on ‘But It’s Better If You Do’ and ascending-descending walking bass behind the step-by-step story of across-the-dancefloor perversion accompanying ‘There’s A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought Of It Yet’ (which would work better with a longer title) provide dramatic suspense to near-perfection.

The Gimmicks

It’s full of surprises. Aside from the really, reaaally long track names ( a bad ‘emo band’ inside joke the rest of the world is yet to figure out) that have nothing to do with the actual words, there’s an intro and a half-time which work quite well in their exclusive context. The ‘intro’ features some radio static and circus music to act as the perfect cue to aforementioned hit, and a danceable intermission separates two impressive individual tracks.

Coming back to the Fall out Boy comparison, Panic! At the Disco are likely to cop some criticism for being just another number in the ‘new-emo’ wave. But A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out does the emo thing, and not only that: it adds it’s own flair to the variety. Better yet, it never loses steam, as other nameless releases (From.Under.The.Cork.Tree) did, as ‘Build God, Then We’ll Talk,’ the off-beat, if slightly slurred, finale demonstrates.

Others will likely find the LP lacking the amount of depth to come across as a mature, creative effort, as opposed to fake, too short-on-thought and glossed over. But to those who find that flaw, there can be only one retort.

A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out is fun. And with so many serious, political, angry or cynical bands floating around these days, daring to have a sense of humor is still something that has a place on the pop market. In fact, drop the relentless sex talk next time around, and we may even have some kind of monster blindsiding us flag-waving fans from the emo ranks.

Track List [x indicates standout track]
1. Introduction
2. The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage [x]
3. London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines
4. Nails For Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks
5. Camisado
6. Time to Dance
7. Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off [x]
8. Intermission
9. But It’s Better If You Do
10. I Write Sins Not Tragedies
11. I Constantly Thank God for Esteban
12. There’s A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought Of It Yet [x]
13. Build God, Then We’ll Talk

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Thank you.