Readers used to playing CDs on their computer should be warned: American Hi-Fi's "The Art Of Losing" will hijack any CPU while it bombards the user with popup disclaimers that point out, "This CD is your key which gives you access exclusive American Hi-Fi music and video!"
Not already a fan? The disc, which is spectacularly well-produced and marketed, aims to make sure its listeners are enamored of the group by track five. However, its poor writing and unimaginative music make this impossible.
Songs like "The Breakup Song," and title track "The Art of Losing," are nothing more than slick-sounding reproductions of the soon-to-be-tired genre of pop-punk. Even the lyrics are hackneyed. It sounds as though front man Stacey Jones - former Letters to Cleo drummer - writes while listening to the radio:
"It's over, we're over/Just like in crimson and clover/It's the end, ex-girlfriend/This is the breakup song." The first two lines are a blatant rehashing of Jimmy Eat World's "Praise Chorus," "Crimson and clover/Over and over."
Other seeming lifts include Lit and Oasis. "This is the Sound" is melodically identical to "Wonder Wall." Sadly, it's also their most contextually unique song, as an Oasis rip-off is hardly expected of the group.
American Hi-Fi has failed to meet expectations after the single "Flavor of the Weak," from their self-titled debut blew up on every available media, with one of the catchiest choruses of 1999 and an excellent video to match. Drummer Brian Nolan gives the only highlight in any of the latest album's songs.
"The Art of Losing" is the kind of CD you'll find in bargain bins inside a decade.
American Hi-Fi
The Art of Losing
Island Records
Released: Feb. 25, 2003
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
