When Jason Lancaster departed Mayday Parade in 2007 after recording, but prior to the release of, their debut album A Lesson In Romantics, he could hardly have known he was stepping off a rocketship seconds before launch.  Propelled largely on the power of Lancaster-penned and co-sung singles “Jamie All Over” and “Miserable At Best,” A Lesson In Romantics went on to sell over 100,000 copies, establishing Mayday Parade as scene mainstays even as they airbrushed him from their history, whitewashing Lancaster from their liner notes and videos. (The band and he have since reconciled their personal differences).  

Meanwhile, Lancaster lay low, slowly transitioning his one-time side project Go Radio into his primary focus, releasing two early EPs while refining their sound as openers for everyone from A Day To Remember to Secondhand Serenade.  Now, four years after he left Mayday Parade, Go Radio have finally released their much anticipated debut full length, Lucky Street, and was it ever worth the wait.  Lucky Street is a gem, an idiosyncratic tour de force of supremely crafted pop with guts and muscle.

Lancaster is a singular talent, both as a songwriter — lyrically hyper-dense, cramming syllables where they never should fit like a mason patching cracks in a stone fence with pebbles — and as a singer, with a distinctive pronunciation, all swallowed vowels and gruff, faintly brogue-like enunciation, paired with a tremendous range and the smarts to use it selectively.  He can be something of an acquired taste, but for those who have acquired it, there’s truly no other vocalist who compares.

The genius is apparent from the get-go. “Lucky Street,” with a soaring guitar lead courtesy of Alex Reed that floats Lancaster’s damn-the-apocalypse lyrics, and first single “Any Other Heart,” with its blissful power-pop hook, are an opening one-two punch that would knock out a super heavyweight.  “Singing With The King” name checks great musicians of the past (Keith Moon, Freddie Mercury) like something out of a Brian Fallon lyric, while “Swear It Like You Mean It” catches sail with a melody every bit as classic as the aforementioned icons, even as the relationship Lancaster sings about bottoms out: “Well you keep the ring // Turns out it never made your fingers warm.”

Driving rocker “Kill The Beast” anchors the center of the album, with bassist  Matt “Burns” Poulos’s aggressive pop and drummer Steven Kopacz’s headstrong backbeat bolstering some of Lancaster’s strongest moments as a wordsmith: “You put yourself onto the cross // And build your wounds to cover spite // So I can’t be the man that martyrs you tonight.”  But even more so than the strident lyrics (see: “Cover sins in rhythms beating // Tell the ones who once retreated // We killed the beast, we’re all home free”), it’s Lancaster’s vocal tone, so clearly rooted in honest self-assuredness (self-certainty, even), that makes “Kill The Beast” such an incredibly believable “come with me” anthem. It might be the single best song released so far this year, from anyone.

As strong a rock songwriter as Lancaster proves, he’s equally facile as a balladeer.  “Why I’m Home” finds adult pain tucked neatly into the trappings of the teenage love song, twisting the standard platitudes on their heads. There’s a depth and complexity in lyrics like “Don’t speak // When one more word would kill me // Saying that you love me // When lying tongues are clumsy” that’s rarely found in the genre.  And the surging “Forever My Father” swells and swoons right to the edge of out-of-control pomposity but somehow manages to hold its footing. That said, the bonus version of the track included at the end of the album, originally found on the band’s Welcome To Life EP and featuring vocals from Lancaster’s brother Daniel and sister Erin, is better. Spare and earnest, it’s sweetly moving to hear all three Lancasters sing tribute to their late father, and they harmonize beautifully.

If there’s an abiding theme to Lucky Street, it’s been distilled beautifully in the titular pun “Redemption In The Verse.” Some find their salvation in the words of the bible; for Lancaster, it’s music that holds the holy spirit.  “You see the sky can’t be this gray forever // Just fill your head with something clever // And clear your throat and scream into the fog.”  With Lucky Street, Go Radio have screamed clearly and beautifully, and if there’s any justice, the reverberations will echo far.  For Jason Lancaster, Lucky Street is the long-delayed fulfillment of the considerable promise he showed during his time in Mayday Parade; for his fans, it’s every bit the heart-on-sleeve epic they’ve been anticipating. Lucky Street is an inside-the-park home run, a masterpiece of desperate hustle and unrelenting ambition diving headfirst into home plate, all bloody elbows and a mouthful of dirt and glory.

*****/*****

*This review was composed by Jesse Richman