Anticlimactic twists in Serenade’s second story

A…A Twist in my Story Secondhand Serenade Glassnote Records Rocks like: Plain White T’s, Dashboard Confessional, Tal Bachman

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Since the beginning of music history, a man who sings or plays guitar sets himself up for female adoration. But to the girl at the Secondhand Serenade concert holding a “Marry me!” poster, there’s bad news: John Vesely, of the one-man band, is already taken.

The only benefit of disturbing the bonds of holy matrimony would be to prompt musical experimentation from Vesely, something he doesn’t do enough of on his latest release, A Twist in My Story.

The title track of Vesely’s second album begins with a slow murmur of vocal slides, “Slow down, the world isn’t watching us break down,” he sings, the whispered personal message drawing us into his emotional living room.

“Say, what’s that sound?” Vesely asks next. Quick, throbbing chords mimic a heartbeat, a sound that increases in volume as the song moves toward its apex. A creatively rich moment in an otherwise staid song on a safe album, this section might’ve been enhanced by more of Vesely’s guitar antics.

You may have heard of Secondhand Serenade because of the press it received for its rags-to-riches success. A retail clerk who wrote songs on receipt paper while slaving away at Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s, Vesely blazed a digital path the likes of which the music industry had never seen.

Unsigned and basically unknown, the singer-songwriter used his MySpace page to publicize his music, befriending over 140,000 people. After decimating his savings to record an album in a top-quality studio, Vesely made his songs available for iTunes download and sold over 15,000 copies of his album through a humble PayPal account.

As word spread, Vesely’s wild success intrigued Daniel Glass, the head of new independent label Glassnote Records, a company that accepted the changes wrought by digital accessibility on the music industry. “Artists are aware that it is no longer necessary to subscribe to the traditional music business model that takes away control and ownership of their own career,” their website states.

And yet, it seems that Vesely has forfeited part of his sound. The heady days of a lone acoustic guitar and multi-track recorder have fled. Backed by a full band on his 11-track second album “A Twist in My Story,” Secondhand Serenade has lost some of its unique appeal. The album is catchy. It’s well-produced. But instead of moving from song to song, wondering what will come next, the album follows the formula of classically emo, giving itself up to the generic.

“Like a Knife” starts the album off gently, muted guitar circling with low bass notes before the drum and power chords kick in.

“I know I’m not the best for you / but promise that you’ll stay,” the song begs. As the drums pick up into a marching band rhythm, Vesely’s vocals become nasally: “All I want to do is love you / but I’m the only one to blame.”

From there the songs delve into the tired territory of two people in love, struggling to work themselves out.

The repetition of the lyrics in “Stranger,” “Your Call,” and “Goodbye” is enough to make a swift change in tracks appealing, but what the songs lack in lyrical depth they make up for in rich orchestration: piano, guitar, and drums lending much-needed variation.

If you’re on a cynical kick A Twist in My Story will appear to be little more than cannon fodder. Its anguished lyrics and predictable instrumentation – you can tell where the downbeats will fall and when the drums will pick back up – are too familiar to excite.

Once established, maybe Vesely will be willing to experiment with his sound, drawing from a musical background that includes ska bands, bass guitar, saxophone and a Czech father who played jazz gigs for twenty years.

If fans take their cue from “Stay Close, Don’t Go,” and its promise that Vesely will “do better / I know, baby I can do better,” then they might have something to look forward to.