American Nights is Plain White T's first independent album since 2001, and follows on from their 2010 album Wonders of the Younger.

If I were being cynical, I'd half suspect that the reason that Plain White T's has gone independent is that none of the major studios want to handle them. It's been five years since their last album and you could argue that the band is a little long in the tooth now for its particular brand of stoner, punk pop music.

However, the band has always kept an element of independence within its studio contracts - hiring close friends to produce their albums and asking high school classmates to direct their music videos.

The press release champions 'Pause' as the album's "lead single". However, I found that it sounded very much like a Eurovision entry - which is either an insult or a compliment depending on your point of view. To my ears, it was a little too cheesy and I certainly wouldn't be pushing this as an example of the band's work. Likewise 'You Belong' has a similar Eurovision ring to it.

However, on the flip side we have the impressive 'American Nights'; 'Time to Move On'; and 'Here Come That Sunrise'.

If you ignore the Eurovision-esque sounding songs then Plain White T's unique brand of pop is easy to digest. To be honest I find this genre of music to be best suited to novice bands, and I'm surprised that they've not matured into either more of a rock or punk based group. Still, as bland pop goes, this ticks all the right boxes.

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Nick Smithson