In an era dominated by pop songs about love, sex and drugs, few voices break out of the common mold. Most musicians tend to go with the flow, targeting their fan bases while tweeting their days away in order to hype up their next album–but not Andrew McMahon and Jack’s Mannequin. From their explosive debut in 2005 with their album “Everything in Transit” to their newest release, “People and Things,” Jack’s Mannequin has courted success, publicity and, of course, the inevitable media attention among lovers of all things rock ’n’ roll. Although they have changed with the times, first emerging as a side project of McMahon’s during his hiatus from teen rock band Something Corporate, their approach to music has remained the same: “to give an honest story,” as Andrew McMahon himself put it.

Yet, one must marvel at what a story it has been, spanning the better part of the last decade as the band has tackled topics ranging from lost youth due to illness (a reference to McMahon’s own battle with leukemia) to relationships. This is what Jack’s Mannequin is all about: showing the world in a new light. In the style that he started in Something Corporate, Andrew McMahon centers his songs on a message and frames them within the context of rock ’n’ roll, something that he has more control over now. In a recent interview with Intermission, McMahon stated that he tries to make “music [with] a destination,” one that tries to remain unchanged by other band members and, in particular, his fans.

Yet, this is not to say that McMahon is able to arrive at his band’s unique sound all alone. Influenced by artists such as Arcade Fire, Bob Dylan and Billy Joel, one can see the roots of McMahon’s music in the lyrical and driving melodies of his compositions for Jack’s Mannequin. Furthermore, to have fans that appreciate each of McMahon’s explorations is what he considers “an immense blessing,” as it offers him the artistic freedom to express the way he sees his world in an unbiased manner that defines the excellence of his music.

And so, with this in mind, what does this tell us about McMahon’s latest album “People and Things?” Perhaps one can conclude that the band is trying to arrive at something authentic, rather than stereotypical, in its portrayals of, as McMahon states, “the relationships between people.” This is arguably true, as he described this album as being “the least manicured record,” a quality that offers an idea of freeness to the album that pervades into the sound of the band. Yet, unlike his previous album, the band does not delve into issues of life and death, instead delving into McMahon’s current state of life as seen after the “fallout of [his] illness.” However, one thing is for certain: the album “People and Things” by Jack’s Mannequin will be a voice that breaks out of the mold of current music and will be great both in a conventional and an unconventional sense of the word.