The album’s a bold move for a band that had just gotten the ball rolling, and it should only boost its momentum.
Here is the reason why people who'll hate Pop Etc will hate Pop Etc: it contains everything pop was ever bad at.
This magpie-like spirit of taking bits and pieces from different genres and sounds makes the album a rather disjointed affair, and the quality of the songs veers markedly from the great via the forgettable to the plain old annoying.
While there are some fine tunes and some fun, inventive moments on POP ETC, there is nothing approaching the grandeur of Big Echo’s most memorable tracks.
Rather than bursting forth with something new and unique, they wind up rehashing stale sounds and leaving the listener with an entirely unmemorable experience.
Forget staying in their lane; the Band Formerly Known as the Morning Benders have drifted into the median, jumped the guardrail, and tumbled end-over-end in the direction of a sheer cliff.