Pitchfork

The Ex-Boyfriends' debut album, Dear John, is a power-pop exploration of lost love-- songs about heartbreak, betrayal, and revenge, delivered so infectiously that you can't help feel like it's a mixed message. The album seems to exist in the cleansing stage of a breakup, when, despite the pain and anger, things might turn out OK after all. Hearts are broken, but before it's all said and done, a boy's going to get the girl, a boy's going to get the boy-- damn it, someone is going to get someone.

The disc opens with the one-two punch of "Him for Me", a pop-punk be- mine story, and "Relationship", about the inevitable post-salad-days when things turn out to be not so perfect after all. The drums are snappy, the guitars are charged and excited, and the harmonies soar. Throughout the disc, the band sticks pretty close to these elements. If Dear John has a weakness, it's that the songs can be too monolithic. The tempo generally varies from mid-to-quick, and the tone, lyrical themes, and general structures are all pretty much the same from track to track.

Of Dear John's few slower tracks, "Well, William" is a desperate ballad built on plaintive strumming and a reserved beat, while singer Colin Daly embraces the haze of drugs and alcohol in order to try to understand the motives behind a boyfriend's decision to leave. Closer "I'm" has a similar theme to "Him for Me", bookending the disc's lyrical elements over muted guitar and a shuffling rhythm. This time around, our narrator is through waiting around to be noticed, and, hard as it may be, he's moving on. Maybe the album's titular proverbial letter is directed outward after all, and the heartbreak on the other end will be even worse. After all, unrequited love or not, this album is a hell of a lot of fun.