People and Things


People and Things is the third and final studio album to be recorded by American rock band Jack's Mannequin. Following the release of The Glass Passenger, the band's vocalist and pianist Andrew McMahon spent time during 2009 and 2010 writing, recording and then scrapping tracks for its follow-up album. Shifting focus to his live band, in late 2010 they began to work on new material. With the aid of producers Jim Scott and Rob Cavallo, People and Things was recorded at several studios from November 2010 to January 2011. People and Things, whose release was preceded by that of the single "My Racing Thoughts" in August 2011, was released through major label Sire Records on October 4 the same year. The release was promoted with tours of the US, Australia and Japan. "Release Me" was released as the album's second single in November 2011; it was promoted with an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
People and Things is an alternative rock release that took inspiration from some of McMahon's favorite musicians and contemporaneous acts. Most of the record was written by McMahon alone but some tracks were co-written with Jaren Johnston of American Bang and Matt Thiessen of Relient K. The album's theme is relationships; it's songs are about marriage, family and the difficulties of maintaining a relationship. McMahon worked on the album with a variety of session musicians and members of bands, such as Jamie Muhoberac, Chris Chaney of Jane's Addiction, and Patrick Warren. People and Things sold 31,000 copies in its first week, charting at number nine on the Billboard 200 and performing well on the Billboard Alternative, Top Rock, Digital and Vinyl component charts. It received a generally positive reaction from music critics, some of whom praised the songwriting.

Background

Jack's Mannequin's second album The Glass Passenger experienced several delays from its initial planned date of April 2008 until its eventually release in September the same year. With its release, the band's frontman Andrew McMahon was free to write again, after having artistically and financially struggled through the making of the album. He felt it would begin a new period of writing, allowing the writing of stream of consciousness material. Between mid-June and early August 2009, Jack's Mannequin toured the US with the Fray and following the tour, they began working on their next album. In October 2009, McMahon went on a solo US tour to promote his documentary film Dear Jack, which follows him during his battle with leukemia in 2005.
Jack's Mannequin was due to support Weezer's headlining US tour in December and January 2010, which was canceled. As a result, McMahon decided to continue working on the group's next album earlier than intended. Sessions were held with producer John Fields. Up to this point, McMahon had worked with long-time producer Jim Wirt and wanted to work with a different producer. McMahon followed the same process he did for The Glass Passenger and Everything in Transit ; he would enter the studio with a song, track piano and vocals, and build the recording. He initially thought the best practice was to be in a studio with several people so he could expand the recording from his initial ideas.
The band embarked on a headlining US tour in February and March 2010 with support from Fun and Vendera. In June, McMahon came to the realisation that he wasn't comfortable with putting out the songs as they existed at the time. He wanted his fans to hear what his live band would sound like on an album, and decided to scrap most of the recordings. Shortly afterwards, McMahon kept some of the already recorded tracks, before writing a lot of new songs. In July, him and the rest of the band got together in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Here, McMahon proposed renting a place and working on the songs in a band practice-style, similar to how McMahon used to work in Something Corporate, with whom McMahon joined for a reunion tour the following month.

Production

In September 2010, Jack's Mannequin rented a house in Joshua Tree, California, where they wrote dozens of songs for two months. Partway through this period, in late October, Mikey Wagner joined the band. Jon Sullivan, the band's previous bassist, wanted go in a musically different direction, which the band were aware of and brought in Wagner. The group traveled between Joshua Tree and Valencia, where the studio is located. The group wanted a producer who was skilled at recording bands live, and eventually contacted Jim Scott, who worked on some of McMahon's favorite albums. Scott subsequently produced and engineered the band's sessions, most of which were held at Plyrz Studios, Lightning Sound Studios and Mid City Sound. Further recording was done at Fourth Street Recording for "My Racing Thoughts". Jack's Mannequin recorded live with a line-up consisting of guitarist Bobby Anderson on bass, McMahon on piano and Jay McMillan on drums. McMahon said they recorded as a three-piece without Wagner, who did not want to change the studio atmosphere. Wagner had only played two shows with the band while McMahon had been playing with Anderson and McMillan for five or six years by that point.
came into the production by its end, subsequently earning himself a producer credit.
People and Things marks the first time the band had worked on an album predominantly as a group effort; the two previous Jack's Mannequin albums were mainly handled by McMahon. By November 2010, the band was in the process of recording 16 or 17 songs; they planned to revisit the recordings with guitars and vocal overdubs over the next two months. They would later collaborate with Rob Cavallo and Jim Wirt, and also worked with Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing, Chris Chaney of Jane's Addiction, and Tim Pierce and Patrick Warren. In January 2011, as production was winding down, Cavallo "saved the day in a lot of ways", according to McMahon. When McMahon gave his label the recordings, he felt a track was missing. Cavallo asked McMahon whether he had another song to record; McMahon, who had a number of tracks ready, showed him "Release Me". The song was recorded in two days with people from the sessions while the piano part was recorded at Capitol Studios. The final recordings were credited to producers Scott, Cavallo and McMahon, with Anderson and McMillan as co-producers. Production of "Release Me" was credited to Cavallo and McMahon.
Wirt did additional production on all tracks except "Release Me", "Restless Dream" and "Casting Lines". Doug McKean and Kevin Dean acted as engineers throughout the sessions; McKean solely on "Release Me" at Lightning Sound, while "Restless Dream" was engineered by Dean and Scott. Jeff Hannan did additional engineering on "Release Me", "Television", "Amy, I", "Hey Hey Hey ", "People, Running", "Amelia Jean", "Platform Fire" and "Hostage". Steve Rea and Russ Waugh acted as assistant engineers on all tracks except for "Restless Dream", and they were aided by engineer Aaron Walk on "Release Me". Nigel Lundemo and Lars Fox were additional Pro Tools engineers; the latter on "Release Me" and the former on "My Racing Thoughts", "Television", "Amy, I", "People, Running" and "Amelia Jean". Chris Lord-Alge mixed the recordings at Mix LA, where he was assisted by Keith Armstrong, Nik Karpen, Brad Townsend and Andrew Schubert. The recordings were mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound.

Composition

Music

People and Things has been classed as alternative rock and has drawn comparisons with the works of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Elton John. McMahon took inspiration from some of his favorite musicians, such as Joel, Paul Simon and Neil Young, as well as newer music by bands including Mumford & Sons, Phoenix and Arcade Fire. He leaned towards his favorite musicians because he was aware of the popularity of indie music at the time and wanted to do something different. Compared to the band's past works, the piano was not at the forefront of the songs, something McMahon approached from a production viewpoint rather than a self-serving one. He wanted an organic feeling that worked for each track, which meant viewing songs from the other instruments' perspectives. The album's songs were focused around the vocals and instrumental arrangements were focused around the lyrics. Most of the tracks were written by McMahon alone, with the exception of "Television", "Amy, I", "People, Running" and "Platform Fire".
McMahon co-wrote "Television" with Jaren Johnston of American Bang, and "Amy, I", "People, Running" and "Platform Fire" with Matt Thiessen of Relient K in Nashville, Tennessee, in January 2010. In addition to their regular roles, McMahon and Anderson performed extra instrumentation; McMahon played percussion on "My Racing Thoughts" and "Television", and keyboards on "My Racing Thoughts", "Television", "People, Running" and "Hostage"; Anderson arranged the strings on "Hey Hey Hey " and played bass on "Amelia Jean". Pierce played guitar on every track except for "Restless Dream", which solely features Anderson on acoustic guitar. Session musician Jamie Muhoberac added keyboards to most of the tracks while McMahon and Warren handled the remainder, and played a B3 Hammond organ on "My Racing Thoughts", "Hey Hey Hey " and "People, Running". Chaney played bass guitar on almost all of the tracks, except "Amelia Jean", on which it was played by Anderson, and "Restless Dream", on which it was played by Wirt.

Lyrical themes

Discussing the album's title People and Things, McMahon said he loved the starkness of the adjacency of the two words, which has said references the tone of the songs and the transparency of love from a different viewpoint. He thought of the title while working on the Dear Jack EP in a studio with Dean. McMahon viewed the release as the final part of the Jack's Mannequin story, which was initially intended to only last for one album. Everything in Transit deals with McMahon's break-up with his girlfriend, whom he would eventually marry. Due to his experience with leukemia in 2005, he felt there was a lack of closure that extended the Jack's Mannequin story over three albums. The Glass Passenger is mostly about the aftermath of his leukemia diagnosis.
People and Things is a relationship record, for which McMahon's goal was to swap the "flowery language and sentiment" of new love with "starker, less blinded language about more binding love". Following the release of The Glass Passenger, his friends had married and found jobs; he said marriage is a "bit of a beast" to talk about on an album but when he wrote "My Racing Thoughts", the size of the subject of marriage became apparent to him. A lot of the album's material was subsequently centered around the first few years of his marriage. Family and the difficulties of maintaining a relationship are also themes found on the album.

Tracks

"My Racing Thoughts" is about arguing with someone with whom one has a close personal relationship. The song stemmed from a fight McMahon had with his wife; it was the first track that was written for the album. The original demo had a lo-fi garage/techno sound to it, which he de-emphasized in favor of a rock-centric, full-band sound. The keyboard parts on the 1980s-influenced pop rock track "Release Me" are reminiscent of "Urgent" by Foreigner. It was the last song that was written for the album and is about the way music became McMahon's living, as well as where he was at in his life as he was finishing the album. McMahon worked on "Television" with Johnston, with whom he shared an A&R representative, before becoming good friends. They wanted to write a song about family, mainly for their parents, but it was fruitless endeavor. In one of McMahon's journals, he found a note that suggested writing a song about sleeping while a television was left on. The pair then came up with the concept of a couple having dinner before it descends into an argument. The couple still end up in the same bedroom with the television filling in the silence. The track was compared to the music of U2 and its guitar riff resembles that of the Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition"; the track is centered around the D chord.
"Amy, I" was written after McMahon and Thiessen spent a night drinking, and is inspired by snow on trees in Nashville. It uses a winter metaphor for a inhospitable lover, and includes an anvil that was played by Scott. "Hey Hey Hey " was written early in the writing process for The Glass Passenger, but was only half-written and left unrecorded for that album. While on tour for Passenger, McMahon revisited a venue at which he played during the early days of Jack's Mannequin days, where he wrote the third verse; according to him, "it just seemed appropriate somehow". The track includes a B3 Hammond organ played by Phil Parlapiano, a violin played by Marisa Kuney, a viola played by Jeanie Lim, and a cello played by Mary Ginger Murphy. "People, Running", the second co-write with Thiessen, was based on the album's title and talks about the day-to-day life that people lead. It builds on the broad theme of people looking for meaning, and the positives and negatives of life.
While recording Passenger, McMahon decided to take a rest-break partway through the sessions, and drove to New York to meet a friend after learning of his plans to go on a surfing trip in Costa Rica. While traveling, McMahon bought a keyboard and would work on pieces of songs; he met up with his friend at a bar, which led to the creation of "Amelia Jean". He wrote the song from the perspective of a telephone call between McMahon and his wife, in which he asked her what she would do if he had to drive across the country. "Platform Fire" is about life on the road; McMahon had written the first verse prior to working on it with Thiessen, who visited McMahon in Los Angeles and finished it with him. McMahon was influenced by the film Man on Wire, which he enjoyed. The country-influenced track "Hostage" is about people who are distant and impossible to hold down and disappear whenever they feel like it. The song's occurring beat was suggested by Scott; he walked into the band jamming and told them to play it throughout the track.
Discussing "Restless Dream", McMahon said filmmakers asked him to contribute a song to a movie about a high-school reunion. He wrote "Restess Dream" and recorded it on the same day; Anderson picked up a guitar and came up with a fingerpicking style that McMahon wanted instantly. It is a guitar ballad that features Brandi Carlile on backing vocals; McMahon told his management team he was interested in adding a harmony part and they put him in contact with Carlile. The song is about the possible directions a relationship could take, and was compared to Dashboard Confessional. "Casting Lines" was a last-minute addition to the album; McMahon was asked to submit a theme song for the television show Parenthood. Though McMahon did not have a child, he decided to talk about being a member of a family and its avdantages and disadvantages. He worked on the song on stage while on tour and recorded a demo the following day. The day after McMahon submitting the song, the program's producers chose to use Bob Dylan's "Forever Young". The demo sat around for a bit, until people brought it up to McMahon and suggested he record it. It discusses the theme of dealing with one's own fate while contemplating where one belongs, coming across as a pseudo-sequel to "Boston" by Augustana. "Ten Days Gone" was written after McMahon relaxed in Laguna Beach, California, and features Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone.

Release

McMahon and Anderson went on a brief Australian tour in February 2011 with support from Leena. During the tour, McMahon debuted "Restless Dream". On May 31, McMahon announced the album's title, People and Things, after which the group went on a headlining North American tour in June and July with support from Steel Train, Lady Danville and River James. On July 20, People and Things was announced for release in October and "My Racing Thoughts" was made available for streaming on the group's website and was released as a single on August 2. On the same day, the album's track listing was revealed. The group played two dates on the Warped Tour and performed at the Kanrocksas Music Festival before embarking on a co-headlining US tour with Guster in August and September.
During the tour, the group rotated several new songs between their performances. On August 12, the band posted an excerpt of "Amy, I" online, which was followed on August 16 by a video of the band working on the track in the studio. A trailer for the album was released through Alternative Press website on August 30. On September 26, "Television" premiered through Entertainment Weekly website. On September 30, a music video for "My Racing Thoughts", which was directed by Anders Rostad, was released. People and Things was released through Sire Records on October 4. The iTunes deluxe edition included bonus tracks "No Man Is an Island", "Ten Days Gone", "Dancing with a Gun" and "Broken Bird". The Best Buy edition included demo recordings of songs from Everything in Transit and The Glass Passenger.
During the album's release week, Jack's Mannequin held a number of events to promote it: A film screening in New York City, which consisted of short films for each of the album's songs—each of them directed by a separate director from the US, UK, Germany and Australia; a livestream question-and-answer session and performance by McMahon; and a collaboration between the band and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, during which they debuted orchestral arrangements of their songs. In October and November 2011, the group went on the headlining US People and Things Tour, for which they were supported by Motion City Soundtrack, Company of Thieves, Lady Danville, Lenka, Allen Stone and Scars on 45.
"Release Me" was released to alternative radio stations on November 8, 2011. In early January 2012, the band performed "Release Me" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Following this, Jack's Mannequin went on tour in Australia and Japan. A music video for "Release Me" was released on May 1, 2012, premiering through Buzznet. It was directed by Michael Goldberg and Matthew Campbell. The clip is a satirical view of music releasing under the influence of major companies.

Reception

People and Things charted at number nine on the Billboard 200, selling 31,000 copies in its first week of release. It also reached number 1 on Alternative Albums, number two on Top Rock Albums, number four on Digital Albums, number five on Vinyl Albums, and number twenty on the Top Tastemaker Albums chart. "My Racing Thoughts" charted at number forty-three on Rock Digital Song Sales and number sixty-eight on Japan's Hot 100.
People and Things received generally favorable reviews from music critics, according to review aggregation website Metacritic. AllMusic reviewer Andrew Leahey called it "tronger than The Glass Passenger and spottier than Everything in Transit" with McMahon "consolidating his strengths". Eric Allen of American Songwriter wrote the lyrics were "delivered with staunch veracity that makes the subject matter seem transcendent", and hailed the record as "the most musically cohesive album in the band’s catalog thus far". Billboard writer Mikael Wood said the "more expensive" song arrangements compliment McMahon's "hyper-expressive" vocal style, though they infrequently make his "songwriting feel less distinct than it has in the past". Blurt John B. Moore said the lyrics are still "a tad bit heavy on overwrought emotions" as they were during McMahon's Something Corporate days.He added that they come across as "a bit more genuine" from a man in his late 20s rather than from a teenager.
Consequence of Sound writer Nick Freed said it "rarely fails" to provide the listener with "a little rush of melancholic joy." Despite calling it a "well-crafted" release, "for longevity's sake" it might be time for McMahon "to add a little change to his normal routine." Entertainment Weekly Benjamin Wood
compared it to Passenger sonically, with a number of tracks "seem like cut-and-dry Passenger 2.0." It remains mainly up-tempo, save for one track; Chad Grischow of IGN said it had "good intentions, but comes off a bit too safe at points." He added that the "overproduced luster" of the record "weighs down" a few "potentially solid solids." Melodic reviewer Johan Wippsson found that it "does not differ in quality" when compared to Transit and Passenger, and said it was more "uptempo and happy" when compared to the latter. PopMatters writer Brice Ezell criticized it as being as generic as the words the album's title consist of, adding: "The people and things of People and Things are about as ordinary as they come." The collection simply serves to "add more tuneful tracks" to the group's repertoire, being "fine for a casual listen, but that's about all that it demands."
Ashley Rhodes of The Stanford Daily called McMahon's "new outlook on life" both "aesthetically appealing and emotionally compelling". She noted while the "almost lilting piano melodies" that featured in Something Corporate were present, People and Things "boasts a new sense of maturity" that removes it from the group's catalog. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Megan Rozell said the album wraps up of the loose ends of Transit and Passenger, tying them "together to create a mind-blowing sound" throughout the record. It comes across in "such a more powerful way that it is sure to bring in more fans and keep dedicated fans close". Sputnikmusic staff writer Steve M called it "another piano-rock album" in the same strain of Something Corporate with the "lyrical maturity" of Passenger and the "fun elements" of Transit while remaining McMahon's "most cohesive work yet". According to the reviewer, the album "guarantees results for long-time fans" but "doesn't attract the kind of attention needed to spark a fresh interest" in the group.

Track listing

Writing credits per booklet.

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.
Jack's Mannequin
Additional musicians
Production