With old roots in Washington, D.C., and new ones in Philadelphia, Jukebox the Ghost has become one of the liveliest pop-music voices on the East Coast. The band's sophomore album, Everything Under the Sun, is another satisfying dose of rousing, shiny melodies, as well as a promising candidate to win over even the surliest pop-hating curmudgeon.
"Schizophrenia" could travel in any of a hundred directions, but the first track on Everything Under the Sun chooses one of the most cohesive, up-tempo options, suggesting with its charmingly springy fanfare that being dysfunctional isn't so bad -- perhaps just a case of being slightly over-caffeinated rather than genuinely unhinged.
Swinging from the standard paranoid fare ("Here they come, here they come, they're after me") to more unsettling observations ("They got guns, they got knives and spies / I am no informant"), "Schizophrenia" bounces off every available wall, but a steady piano rhythm keeps it from getting too twitchy. More interested in capturing a brief moment of frenzy than the full range of mania, "Schizophrenia" dabbles in delightful madness without neglecting the method.
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