Better Than Ezra [Official Site, MySpace] . You are easily one of my five favorite bands of all time. Over the past fifteen years, you’ve faithfully accompanied me on my radio, tape deck, Walkman, Discman, iPod. You always make an appearance on my road trips. I have more memories attached to your songs than any other band. My prom date played How Does Your Garden Grow? in his pickup truck while driving on back roads en route to the dance hall. My friends and I skipped school on sunny spring days and blared Deluxe while doing a variety of forgivable teenage things. I regularly fell asleep to “Everything in 2s” and “Under You” during college. Your albums were perfect for breaking up and making out. Friction, Baby is one of the albums I’d choose if I could only listen to five for the rest of my life. I lovelovelove you.

But with your latest release, Paper Empire, you’re breaking my heart.

For long-term bands to be successful, one of two things must happen – you either need to continue to reinvent yourself, like U2 or Radiohead, or you need find a way to bring your listeners back to their halcyon days. With the latter, I’m not referring to keeping the same sound on every album (if I wanted that I’d listen to Green Day or Everclear). No, what I’m taking about is that indescribable sweet spot, somewhere in between the lyrics, beats and guitar that makes you feel invincible and happy. Something that will give you the rush of sneaking out past curfew, the butterflies and electricity before that first kiss, something to make you lose all inhibitions and sing at the top of your lungs with the windows down… at a stop light.

Something to become your life soundtrack without trying.

You were this. You made this kind of music.

Your latest release, Paper Empire, is… cute. But then, so are teddy bears, and I don’t fall asleep with them anymore. The first time I heard Paper Empire, I was on the train commuting to work, giddy with anticipation at hearing your new album. It was a gray day, I was staring out the window into backyards of people who live near the train tracks – toys, trash and tools littered about in most of them – and as my thumb reached yet again for the “next song” button, I realized that everything, even my favorite band, is fleeting.

It’s like that “end of an era” realization. When I was younger, my boyfriend, my brother, a few neighborhood kids and I would play wiffleball on my parents side lawn. The railroad tie was an automatic out, the shed was positioned perfectly as a backstop, and we used a white plastic chair as the strike zone. We’d play all summer long. Slowly but surely, it became evident where the pitchers mound was – a small foot patch of dirt turned into an eight-foot oval barren of all life in the middle of our lush lawn. The day came when my dad finally said “enough is enough – you want to play, take a walk to the high school.” We were shocked and appalled. We tried to play at the softball field, but it wasn’t the same. We had gravel in our sneakers, the layout was terrible – we bickered and eventually resigned to the fact that it was the end of the Wiffleball Era. There are times when change is great – this was not one of them. The same goes for this album.

I’ve given it a few weeks, BTE. Your fans are thinking it, but I’m going to say it: after four years of playing a show here and there in Louisiana, after four whole years of musing and tinkering about – this what you have given us?! Your lyrics on this album sound more contrived than emotionally driven (the vocals, per usual, are great). The soundscapes in every single song are tacky, unnecessary filler, unless you are intentionally shooting for more supermarket airtime. Before The Robots didn’t blow me away like your other albums did, but I learned to love it. This musical rut you’ve hit with Paper Empire, however, is a crevasse that even Bear Grylls couldn’t get out of.

Obviously you have explored a myriad of sounds on your albums over the years, and it’s almost impossible to compare songs from your previous albums to this. You always seem to have a few “goofyish” (yeah,that’s a word…now) tunes, a few emotional ballads, a few rock-out types – variety, I get it. But with Paper Empire, it seems like a formulaic cop-out; a cringe-inducing state of complacency. It’s like you’ve lost your muse, or whatever was the driving force behind lyrics like “drowning in the brevity” and “age undermines you when you close your eyes / we pass right by you.” Now we have the borderline cliché, “What would you do? What would you say? If everyone you love came back for just one day?” and “The world is spinning turning day to night / And my thoughts are running at the speed of light…” Oy. And then there’s those cheesy soundscapes…

I expected more from you because I know you are better than this. Were you trying to play it safe? Are you going after the soccer mom demographic? Is it the new label? Why not instead re-record Surprise?

I really hate to think that this could be your last album ever. Don’t do that to me. Don’t do that to your loyal listeners. Please.

It’s tough love, boys. But it had to be said.

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