Mandy Moore: new album fail

So I decided to check out Mandy Moore's new album, Amanda Leigh (released yesterday). I will start by admitting that I have never really been a fan of Ms. Moore. Her voice has always had this airy tone to it that kind of makes me want to gag. BUT, I did try to give the record a fair listen. Being that she is married to Ryan Adams and all, I thought for sure this could actually turn out to be decent. However, I was wrong, and it was worse than "not decent." Ironically, it sounds to me almost like a Ryan Adams album gone terribly wrong. In her attempts to be folksy and (maybe??) alt-rock, she came out with a record full of songs that very much fall into my category of "cheesy, not quite pop, just kind of weird." My mother is an elementary school music teacher, and the best comparison that comes to mind is one of the cd's that would go along with her K-5 music books. I'm not really sure where she was going with song titles like "Merrimack River" and "Fern Dell." Again, I'm just having to guess it was a failed attempt at being folksy. The sound is way too clean, which to me is almost the opposite of what gritty, folksy, alt-rock is supposed to be. And there you have it, Mandy Moore dishes out a less-than-satisfying album once again.* I really think I would rather her just stick to pop music, and maybe come out with a good surface level love song every now and then to go along with some sappy movie. I could appreciate that.

*I do give her some props for Coverage. It was decent...perhaps because she didn't write any of the songs.

I feel like that was harsh. But honesty is harsh sometimes. Happy Wednesday!

A side note: One review I read of MM's album actually called it "classic rock." That boggles my mind.