Lines, Vines And Trying Times
Artist: The Jonas Brothers
Label: Hollywood

Remember when Elvis Costello and Nick Jonas got together for a chat transcribed for the pages of Rolling Stone? It appears the brotherly trio of which Nick is a third wasn't blowing smoke when it came to following Costello as a mentor. Isofar as taking as circuitous a trail across the musical map, that is. Because The Jonas Brothers deal with the Disney machine  is as much about pumping out the gold and platinum sales plaques, any JoBros' stabs at Costelloan alt'
country, chamber pop and string quartet collaborations are yet in the offing.

Lines, Vines and Trying Times does find the guys branching out-sorry about the pun-into territory beyond the authentic (mostly) rocking of their previous long-player. They also revisit the unabashed 'tween poppery of their self-titled Hollywood Records '07 set.

First single "Paranoid" meets in the middle as a hybrid of their first pop hit (beyond Radio Disney), "S.O.S." and Gary Numan's electro-pop classic, "Cars." If it take a little stretch to hear the bros' address such romantic darkness, the track's hypnotic keyboard lines and the video help sink in the impression. "World War III" "Poison Ivy" have more fun with a similar theme...and horns!

All that brass sometimes brings the Jonases to the brink of loungey overkill. Its effect peaks at the album's ending bonus cut, "Keep It Real," from their basic cable show. The ska/'60s soul accompaniment enlivens the song about the joy of making music.

Other numbers make evident that the guys' love lives aren't always so joyous, though. Nick's on & off again thang with fellow Disneyite Miley Cyrus must get some lyrical time here. A couplet about teardrops on a girl's guitar on "Much Better" more explicitly references Joe's break-up with poppy country cutie Taylor Swift. If Kevin's fiancee' got the same kind of nod, it might be on the more exultant "Fly With Me."

And regardless of Cyrus' paramour status with any given Jonasm  she shares a writing credit and duet vocal with Nick on "Before The Storm." And as that tune's downtempo lushness complements Cyrus' country ballad  "The Climb," the  brothers' "What Did I Do To Your Heart" takes them from remaking Shania Twain on their concert movie soundtrack to sounding like they're taking up stylistic slack for for the long chart-absent diva with more 4/4 aggro-downhome disco. Whether it becomes the lads is another matter.

As someone who believed their previous outing, A Little Bit Longer, should have been taken more seriously as a genuine rock 'n' roll article, I take  LV&TT as a slight letdown. But it's a reasonable hope that the JBs' continued growth and willingness to musically explore should bode future goodness.

Jamie Lee Rake