The Glass Passenger (2008)

Jack's Mannequin frontman Andrew McMahon sticks to his formula of friendly piano and new-wave-influenced beats on his second album. But this time he weaves in darker themes of desperation and adversity, as The Glass Passenger is loosely inspired by his recent battle with leukemia (now in remission). McMahon's lyrics are often revealing, but he sounds a bit bored as he tries to force clichéd metaphors into power ballads. By the time he gets to the genuinely heartfelt ''Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby)'' two-thirds of the way through, it's too late; the ratio of cheese to sincerity is just too high. C+
Download This: Listen to ''The Resolution'' on the MySpace page for Jack's Mannequin