...Is a Real Boy

Modern pop-punk and emo are not usually known for depth but Say Anything bucked conventions with the complex, self-reflexive IS A REAL BOY, a high-minded concept album that tells as much about the band's real leader, Max Bemis, as it does about his fictional surrogate. Bemis's battle with bipolar disorder is dire, but the music he's crafted out of his troubles is colorful and busy, folding confessional lyrics into bright arrangements like the keyboard stabbing of "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" and the fuzzy overdrive of "Every Man Has a Molly."