I'll go ahead and say it: Despite being the only song of theirs you've probably heard,"Sex and Candy" was not a very good song. I'm not trying to say that it was a bad song, only that it just wasn't representative of the rest of their album. By comparison it was sub-par. For me, “Sex and Candy” was a gimmicky song, dwarfed by emotionally provacative tracks like “One More Suicide,” “A Cloak of Elvenkind” and “Opium.” Since their self-titled release in 1997, Mary Playground have released only two other albums, neither of which were particularly good. Both of those albums represented musical departures from their self-titled album, which was very mellow, almost folky effort. Shapeshifter (released 1999) and MP3 (released 2004) showcased the band's attempts at adapting their sound to become more mainstream modern rock, and both albums were critical and commercial flops.
It's been a long time coming, but Marcy Playground have finally released another album. "Leaving Wonderland In a Fit of Rage" was originally intended to be a solo effort for singer John Wozniak, but Wozniak's label Deep South Entertainment requested that he release the album under Marcy Playground. That may sound cheap to some, but the album really is similar to what we've heard from Marcy Playground so far.
This album represents a more even fusion of the acoustic styling of their first album with the electric drive of their follow-ups. I wish they had abandoned their modern rock tendencies altogether, but the album is definitely a marked improvement from the last two. Songs like “Thank You” and “Down the Drain” are incredibly reminiscent of the tracks on their debut effort.
Marcy Playground is on tour this month in support of “Leaving Wonderland,” and they're playing tonight at Scout Bar. I'm meeting with the band before their show to conduct a brief interview, which I'll post here on the Curblog in the next day or so. If you have any questions, send them my way.
