Forget and Not Slow Down

Personnel: Matthew Thiessen (vocals, electric guitar, nylon-string guitar, trombone, piano, electric piano, Fender Rhodes piano, organ, Wurlitzer organ, steel drum, bells); Matthew Hoopes (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, omnichord); Mark Lee Townsend (electric guitar, mandolin); Ethan Luck (electric guitar, drums, percussion); Jon Schneck (electric guitar); John Warne (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Andy Wallace.
Recording information: Dark Horse Studios, Franklin, TN; S-S-Studio, Spring Hill, TN.
Editor: Dave Hagen.
Photographers: Cale Glendening; Ethan Luck.
Relient K's sixth studio album (and first with Mono Vs Stereo and Jive Records) represents the veteran alternative CCM outfit's official entry in the insufferable or cathartic (depending on where the listener is in his/her lives) "breakup album" category. Unsurprisingly, lead singer and songwriter Matt Thiessen's take on heartbreak is a genuinely hopeful one, a stance achieved by submitting to complete isolation in a remote Tennessee lake house during FORGET AND NOT SLOW DOWN's creation. Thiessen's penchant for machine-gun-fired torrents of both secular and non-secular self-discovery on top of impossibly catchy melodies makes for a remarkably upbeat listen, and the band's efficient, late-'90s alternative rock delivery feels far less stale than bands with a similar feel. That's not to say that it's all Matchbox 20 and Foo Fighters, as Relient K can deal out a jangle pop ("Candlelight") or adult alternative pop/rock ("Over It") gem when called for, but there's a certain fireplace familiarity to the whole affair (think Ben Folds without the snarky bits) that makes it all go down easy, despite the obvious emotional turmoil that spawned it.