“Things are shaping up to be pretty odd…” claims Panic At The Disco in a song off their sophomore album Pretty. Odd; and what a fitting title I must say. You know Panic At The Disco, with their crazy music and lyrics. But they’ve actually toned down their music on this new album. Things sure are shaping up to be pretty odd. One thing that’s very different then the other album: they all sing! The album came out on April 25, 2008 with 15 wonderfully written songs with a little something added in from each member.

Their opening song “We’re So Starving” explains why they’ve been gone for so long: “We were busy writing songs for you” They tell us not to worry, they’re still the same band.

“Nine In The Afternoon” is next on the list. This is a very upbeat song that just puts a smile on your face. It’s got a beat that sounds a lot like something the Beatles would produce. “That Green Gentleman (Things Sure Have Changed)” basically describes the entire album. Things are changing for them; “Things have changed for me”. This is kind of like their “growing up” song.

With just a ukulele and a trumpet with clever words added, Panic manages to amaze us once again with “I Have Friends In Holy Places”. It’s a quite simple song that sounds like it’s being played on a record. This is more of their jazzier piece. With 25 seconds left they give us a quick preview of the next upcoming song, “Northern Downpour. “Northern Downpour” is Panic’s first slow song.

In my opinion “When The Day Met The Night” has to be their most beautiful song. This song makes you want to keep believing in love at first sight. The song talks about a man (the moon/night) who meets a woman (the sun/day) and they fall in love instantly.

Ryan Ross steals the vocals in “Behind The Sea”. Not only is he a musical genius, but he also has a fantastic singing voice. I detect a sense of arrogance in this song when they say “Yes, we’re all too smart to talk to God”.

Not only does the music sound much like a folk song, but the lyrics fit into a folk song in “Folkin’ Around”.

While Panic was trying to come up with songs for their next album, they took a trip up to a cabin in the mountains. And this is where they came up for the idea for this song, “From A Mountain In The Cabins”.

At a concert they described this song as a universal love song; and that’s exactly what it is. At first it doesn’t sound like it, but give it time and you’ll see what I mean. Ryan and Brendon share vocals in this brilliantly written song.

Panic took a big, bold step with this album. Trading in keyboards and drum machines for a big orchestra, they managed to come up with a brilliant sophomore album. They managed to show us that they’re more than meets the eye and just how many tricks they have up their sleeves.

Name: "Pretty. Odd. "
Label: Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic
Release Date: March 25, 2008
My rating: 4 out of 5

Taylor Trujillo is a staff writer in the Midwest region of Musiqtone.com. You can contact her at taylortrujillo@musiqtone.com or fill out this feedback form below.