Jack's Mannequin Come Alive

By: Jennifer Barrows

Posted: 8/31/05

Andrew McMahon, the piano-pounding front man of the pop-punk band Something Corporate, was thinking of a few things when he first formulated the idea for his solo project, Jack's Mannequin.

Released Aug. 23, "Everything in Transit" is a concept album that contains a main plot as well as an underlying storyline. McMahon weaves a tale concerning a boy, a girl and Venice Beach, Calif. Each song is assigned a chapter and the cover informs the listener what they are about to hear is a story. The song cycle concerns a broken relationship, a period of estrangement and finally, with the song "Made for Each Other," reconciliation.

Curiously, this isn't just a story: it is also McMahon's reality. After writing several songs during the period of time spent traveling and recording with Something Corporate, McMahon returned home feeling alienated from his former life and saddened by the end of a long, close relationship.

McMahon then decided to formulate a solo project, Jack's Mannequin, and used the best of his songs to eventually create "Everything in Transit."

Released on Maverick Records under producer Jim Wirt, McMahon received musical assistance from instrumentalist Patrick Warren and ex-Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. The talent and intelligence of Jack's Mannequin is being compared to McMahon's musical hero, Ben Folds. The maturation of McMahon is clear on this album. Wirt compares the poppy feel of Something Corporate's earlier music to the Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and considers Jack's Mannequin the beginning of McMahon's venture into more meaningful, "Eleanor Rigby" music.

The lead track, "Holiday from Real," expresses McMahon's alienating homecoming within its laid-back, Californian sound. "Mixed Tape" and "Bruised" begin the tale of a fast-fading relationship among catchy piano and interesting drum beats.

One of the best developed songs on the album would be "I'm Ready." Beginning with the ambiguous spoken line "And today was a day just like any other," McMahon's lyrics attempt to understand the focal relationship on the album. He sings of the capability to start a new day, but there is still an undertone of confusion and an inability to move on. In the midst of the song McMahon's spoken-word part only enhances the emotions conveyed.

The bonus track "Into the Airwaves" sums up the album, the story and McMahon's intentions behind Jack's Mannequin. In lines like "As I deconstruct my thoughts at this piano," McMahon describes his songs as his reality. Later in the song he explains how the girl he had cared so much for had ceased to be a reality. "And this is nothing new, you are slipping through/My fingers and into the airwaves/Into the airwaves." Finally, he sums up the album and the song with the realization that all days are different and some are more difficult to deal with then others. "It's gonna be a hard day/So hang on, now/Don't panic, don't panic/There simply is no need."

Ironically, it was after this song was written and recorded that McMahon began to experience his hardest days. Soon after recording wrapped, McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia. He under went chemotherapy for two months and the release of "Everything in Transit" was postponed to late August. The day of the album's release, McMahon underwent bone marrow surgery. Wirt could not have spoken truer words when he called Aug. 23 "definitely the most important day of his life" on the Jack's Mannequin web site.

When asked why he did not postpone the release date until he was healthier and better able to promote the album, McMahon simply said, "There is no certainty to the next couple of years."