Wonders of the Younger: An In-Tents Album
The Plain White T’s are relatively famous for their song “Hey There Delilah”, which hit #1 on the Billboard charts in 2007. Wonders of the Younger, which came out in 2010, takes a slightly more electro-pop approach to songwriting, with the indie guitar and vocals taking a backseat to upbeat drums and synth-like effects.
As somebody who is very attached to both the Plain White T’s in general (I did spend most of my formative years listening to Hey There Delilah on repeat, after all) and albums that sound very similar to this one, I adored this album. Wonders of the Younger gets a solid four stars from me.
The album art, a desolate carnival and a single tent with light shining out of it, already gives us an idea as to what the focus of this album is going to be- something about finding whimsy and mystery in a place where all seems somewhat lost. The actual music delivers on this promise of bittersweet nostalgia in a fantastic way, from the instrumentals reminiscent of something you would find blasting from the speakers in a circus booth to the lyrics about finding your place in an ever-changing world.
The very first song on the album, “Irrational Anthem”, sings of games played in childhood, imagination, and “reclaiming” the idea of the rollercoaster of emotions that is adolescence. The theme is continued in songs like “Boomerang”, about the twists and turns of teenage relationships, and Map of the World, in which Tom Higgenson sings about how difficult it is to find your place in a community, with the lyric “where do I fit in” ending almost every verse and chorus.
At the end of “Map of the World”, as well as a few other songs on this album, the quality fades into that of an old-school radio, an effect that draws my attention to any song. It’s this pseudo-vintage quality that Plain White T’s employs to keep you listening, and this album from ever getting boring.
Another thing that keeps this album from ever getting boring is the constant variety of styles in Wonders of the Younger. Some of the songs (songs like “Last Breath”, “Rhythm of Love”, “Our Song”, “Body Parts”, and the title song “Wonders of the Younger”) are gentler and a little more melancholy. The guitar is plucked a little softer and the vocals return to the soft indie of their chart-topper.
“Our Song”, which sings of physical distance between two lovers making it hard for one of them to live his life as normal, almost feels like a direct homage to “Hey There Delilah”. The song itself, however, is not the most memorable on the album. “Cirque dans la Rue” takes that trophy, with its heavy circus imagery- after all, the translated title is “Circus in the Street”- strong marching drums, and lyrics of this hard-hitting attention-grabber providing plenty of vivid imagery pertaining to the subtle anxiety over the incredibly teenager-specific feeling of constantly being “on display” for your peers and the world. Higgenson sings about wanting to make friends with “the freaks” of the acts, and later likens himself to aforementioned freaks. He once again calls on the teenage anxiety of being under scrutiny constantly, during a portion of the song that is more spoken-word than anything. Higginson takes on the voice of a carnival barker, “Come one, come all,” he beckons, and goes on to talk about the amazing things at Cirque dans la Rue. While transitioning back into singing, he pulls out the anxiety one final time to tell the listener that “while you’re watching us do the things that we do / we’re watching you!” All components considered, this is probably the best song on the album, though not my favorite.
My favorite song on the album, personally, is “Rhythm of Love”. Full confession, this has been one of my favorite love songs since I first heard it. It holds an incredibly special place in my heart for both the sweet instrumentals and the themes of juvenile love and how intense it is. “Rhythm of Love” sings of the idea that the world turns on its axis “to the rhythm of love.” The idea that adolescent life is tough but having someone to share it with makes it easier comes through in many of the albums lyrics, but most strongly in “Rhythm of Love” when Higgenson sings “when the moon is low / we can dance in slow motion / and all your tears will subside / all your tears will dry.” The bittersweet undertone in the chorus and in the idea that “long after I’ve gone / you’ll still be humming along / and I will keep you in my mind / the way you make love so fine” gives the listener the sense that while things change, it’s for a good reason- you can’t stay in one place forever.
Some of the songs, like “Last Breath” and “Broken Record”, don’t particularly fit with any styles of the album. “Last Breath” has an arbitrary violin at the beginning, and “Broken Record” has crunchy guitar paired with tired, cliché lyrics that reminded me of corny 90’s breakup songs. They aren’t terrible songs by any means, but they definitely don’t fit with the tone or styles of the album at all.
Some of the songs want to take you to a place where your problems and issues are gone, which is something that most teenagers can certainly relate to. Some of the songs, like the title track, take you to years past where you can play games like “ghost in the graveyard” with your childhood friends and not worry about the stresses of growing up. Some songs, like “Make It Up As You Go”, promote the idea that we can’t predict where life is going to take us, so we just have to “go with the flow.”
All in all, this is an incredible album with a few minor problems in the form of songs that just don’t fit. The album comes full circle, with the last minute and a half of “Wonders of the Younger” being a quirky fading instrumental that perfectly loops back into the beginning thirty seconds of “Irrational Anthem”. This makes it so if you wanted to listen to the whole album on repeat, like I’ve done all morning, you can do that without interrupting the flow of listening. Ultimately, I believe this album deserves 4 out of 5 stars.
