By Andrew Swan
Here’s hoping no one listening to Folie a Deux begins to lose their mind. Fall Out Boy’s latest effort– the title of which implies a transmission of psychosis from one person to another– may incite madness, but at least it will be a happy madness. Although it has its moments, Folie a Deux is nothing more than the latest in contemporary bubblegum pop. The album seems to have an identity crisis as the 13 songs jump around in terms of style from uplifting optimistic alternative, to catchy pop, to try-hard punk. The only constant is lead singer Patrick Stump, who proves he can sing as well as any other in the era of Auto-Tune.
With all that said and done, Folie a Deux is by no means horrible. While the album as a whole lacks an apparent theme, the songs do have a way of being catchy and enjoyable– a feature that is directly attributed to the ’80s flair that the band sprinkled in to some of their songs. This is also not to say that the album is great, but it hosts enough redeeming qualities to make for a peppy, upbeat offering.