Ludo - You're Awful, I Love You

Band: Ludo
Album: You're Awful, I Love You
Genre:Pop Rock
Label: Island

Tracks:
1. Love Me Dead
2. Drunken Lament
3. Please
4. Topeka
5. Lake Pontchartrain
6. Such As It Ends
7. Mutiny Below
8. Streetlights
9. Go Getter Greg
10. The Horror of Our Love
11. Scream, Scream, Scream
12. The Horror of Our Love
13. In Space

St. Louis' pop rockers Ludo have made a move for the big time. "You're Awful, I Love You," marks the third release for the band and their debut on Island Records. The album showcases the band's tongue-in-cheek lyricism mixed with poppy rock music and catchy hooks. However, with a singer that sounds more like a Broadway actor than a rock star and lyrics about vomiting into souls, finding God in car parts, and stalking someone you love, is the world ready for what Ludo has to offer?

You're Awful begins with the lead album single, "Love Me Dead," which fittingly displays the best the band has to offer. It's moderately paced rock with witty lyrics about a sour relationship that includes the line, "fill my soul with vomit then ask me for a piece of gum." If that doesn't catch you, then this band may not be for you. Singer, Andrew Volpe sounds more like someone meant for Broadway rather than fronting a pop rock band, but the band has crafted a sound that seems to correspond great with the unusual vocal styles. The two tracks following the opening got me worried as I couldn't tell where one ended and the 2nd began. Both, "Drunken Lament," and, "Please," are meant to showcase the band's softer side, but ends up destroying all the momentum and expectation the first song built. "Topeka," is a good acoustic tale, but anyone looking for emotional depth better not be thinking any deeper than, "I found God in a catalytic converter," because you will be let down. From there the album continues to move from fast tales ["Lake Pontchartrain," Mutiny Below," Go Getter Greg, etc] to slow one [the rest] without really making any grand pulls at your heartstrings or social commentary. Ludo prefers to tell fictional stories about serial killers, desire to join bone marrows, and other oddities. It's definitely original, but it just, especially in the lyrics, that they are trying to hard to be poetic and deep ["there's catastrophe in everything I'm touching" for instance]. However, the band's sound is definitely a bright light. Ludo has crafted a sound that allows for the big sound of Volpe's voice to shine while fitting the overall mood.

Overall, "You're Awful, I Love You," is a fitting title, as it is the best way to explain how I feel about Ludo's latest effort. When the band sounds good ["Love Me Dead," "Topeka," "Go Getter Greg,"] they are amazing, but the album is laced with filler and failed attempts to be deep and innovative. The best comparison I can think of, is if Bowling For Soup got a better vocalist, but wrote more mediocre songs. It doesn't move you as much as leaves you filling half full and that's never a good sign. Maybe next time around Ludo will decide if they want to be deep or fun and stick with it, one of them has got a work better than splitting it in two.

GRADE: 5.5/10