Review: Plain White T's just plain better on 'Big Bad World'

POP-ROCK | Plain White T's, "Big Bad World" (Hollywood)

If you had asked the Plain White T's to answer the question, "What's it like to launch from relative obscurity to chart-topping sensation in a matter of months?" chances are the answer would come in the form of "Big Bad World."

With this album, due Tuesday, the suburban Chicago natives show that despite the notoriety and newfound fame -- or perhaps because of it -- they've matured musically and stylistically. But they still retain much of the pop-friendliness that ushered them into the limelight with "Really Want You" and "That Girl."

While the 2007 uber-single "Hey There Delilah" was all the rage among the dreamy-eyed teenage set, the 10 songs on "Big Bad World" are smarter and more well-rounded than the band has ever produced. The arrangements are more complex and the distortion is markedly muted -- all things that could widen the band's demographic.

Meanwhile, the fans who fell in love with the T's with "Delilah" will stay in love thanks to future single "1, 2, 3, 4" (not to be confused with the Feist ditty of the same name) and the simple-but-sweet ballad "Sunlight."

It's revealing when the first single ("Natural Disaster") off a band's new album isn't even the best cut (that'd be this album's title track). And in this case, it reveals that these native sons may have enough staying power up their sleeves after all.

Kevin Allen