When Everything Breaks Open

Matt Morris is totally BFFs with Justin Timberlake—or that’s the assumption anyway. The two ex-Mouseketeers have been hanging out a lot lately, most recently while working on Morris’ debut full-length, When Everything Breaks Open. Timberlake is credited with production on the record, but his overall involvement goes well beyond that: The pop star also played keys, contributed drum loops, and even sang backing vocals. Unfortunately, JT’s involvement with Everything supplies what little the album has going for it.

There are lots of neat things happening throughout the genre-hopping 14 tracks, from catchy wheel organs and shimmering guitar effects (“Live Forever”) to dub-style drums (“Love”) and 8-bit beats (“You Do It For Me”). But every unique and interesting nuance seems coupled with a cheesy effect, like the blown-out stadium-rock drums on “Live Forever” or the obnoxious scatting-under-his-breath thing on “In This House.” A few tracks achieve a good balance: “Someone To Love You” has a slow, mournful piano that sounds like it’s underwater; a flange effect turns it over and over with unrestrained drums filling in the spaces. It’s the record’s most—and perhaps only—grounded and sincere effort.

There are three obvious themes at play on Everything: love, political satire, and Christianity. The last, frankly, is a little alienating. “Bloodline,” with delicate acoustic guitar and syrupy strings, comes off as Christian light-rock, and “Forgiveness,” despite its clever, twitchy drums, collapses under oppressive melodrama about Morris’ “bleeding heart” and “wounded soul.” And then there’s the rambling, eight-minute, aptly titled “Eternity.” The music plods and rattles uninterestingly, and lines like “Somewhere between the first creation and tonight / was a million incarnations of me, myself, and I” yank the listener right out of the song. “I was the savior in another life,” he sings. “I’m carrying the memory of these things inside of me / I greet them with humility.” Really? Because it sounds like you greet them with a massive, raging ego.

When Everything Breaks Open is undoubtedly well-polished, and Morris has a classic R&B voice that is smooth, soulful, and self-assured. But all of the labor and over-production leaves him sounding like he may have bit off more than he could chew.