Much like an episode of the WB high school drama, Friends With Benefit — Music from the Series 'One Tree Hill' (Volume 2) is an hour of trendy, guiltily absorbing music that captivates but fades as soon as the disc stops spinning. Featuring the likes of Jack's Mannequin, Fall Out Boy and Tyler Hilton, the disc presents itself as an emotional landscape but comes across more like a sentimental mix tape put together by a 17-year-old in the raptures of puppy love.
With a portion of the soundtrack's proceeds going toward breast cancer research, Friends With Benefit attempts seriousness by way of strategically-placed pink ribbons and a somber note from "One Tree Hill" creators about the indiscriminate nature of cancer. Jack's Mannequin frontman, Something Corporate's Andrew McMahon, is a cancer survivor himself, so his contribution is a fitting one. The rest of the disc, however, should be taken as seriously as the glossy photos of pouting cast members Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton splashed all over the liner notes.
But like most guilty pleasures, the soundtrack's superficiality is delicious. Beginning with the airy "Feeling a Moment" from British alt-rock band Feeder, its first tracks feature acoustic guitars that resonate through lyrics about searching and longing. The aptly titled "The Mixed Tape," from Jack's Mannequin, is pure Dashboard Confessional material infused with the unmistakable voice of McMahon. Relatively hard-rock band Audioslave contributes their 2005 single, "Be Yourself," a smooth but lyrically challenged track that was frustrating the first time around.
The moody vibe of the album's first songs is sharply interrupted by Gavin DeGraw, who comes in halfway through with the piercing, starkly elegant "Jealous Guy." With a graceful piano backdrop and DeGraw's distinctly gorgeous voice, the track is a welcome break from the studio effects-laden fare from the rest of the album's contributors. Providing a female counterpoint to "Jealous Guy" is Michelle Featherstone's "Coffee and Cigarettes." Though unoriginally titled, the track is stunning in a way that only somber piano tunes can be. When the sultry-voiced Featherstone croons again and again that she "must quit you," the effect is altogether disarming.
With the exception of the chilling "Coffee and Cigarettes," Friends with Benefit is mostly a boy's club. The album's two remaining female contributions are weak — Haley James Scott's "Halo" sounds like a less edgy Ashlee Simpson track, if that's entirely possible. MoZella's "Light Years Away" is similarly unaffecting, though the 23-year-old Michigan singer does know how to use her delicate, scratchy voice.
On the men's side, Friends With Benefit obligatorily features several trendy alt-rock bands that whisper and wail their way through tangles of syrupy lyrics that all seem to run together. While the Shout Out Louds' "Please Please Please" is indeed pleasing, similar band Hot Hot Heat's "Middle of Nowhere" is uncharacteristically slow and tedious. Jimmy Eat World, a band that has served as inspiration for many of the soundtrack's younger acts, contributes "23," a somewhat lifeless track that lacks the band's trademark power and catchiness. Just as disappointing is Fall Out Boy's "I've Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song)," which, despite the characteristically creative title, is still the worst track off last summer's smash album From Under the Cork Tree.
Then there is Tyler Hilton, who covers John Waite's 1984 classic "Missing You" with so much sincerity and bravado that it's difficult to resist the urge to put the track on repeat several hundred times. When the young crooner and occasional "One Tree Hill" cast member growls that he "ain't missing you at all / No matter what my friends say," it becomes clear that this is a guilty pleasure song of the finest variety. Hilton, of course, cannot and will not succeed in the music business past the likes of "One Tree Hill" soundtracks, but when he sings his little heart out on somebody else's song, it's best to just bask in his mushy and inexplicably gorgeous sound while he's here.
Undeniably catchy and unapologetically corny, Friends With Benefit is an album that perfectly suits a teenage mindset — incredibly engrossing, but entirely forgettable. Luckily, the disc's breast cancer proceeds ensure that you don't have to worry about your time and tears being wasted. If you accidentally happen to find yourself listening to this album at 3 a.m. while writing a weepy love letter to your high school prom date, as recommended, know that at least your guilty pleasure is for a good cause.
Rating: 3 out of 5
