Rex stomps and flirts with Bowie's interstellar swagger - not to mention his cadence sometimes echoes Eno and he's savvy enough to thread saxophone into the background on "Get the Gang Together" - but the heart of Hesitant Alien lies in the late '80s and early '90s, the time when all the arty strands of British and American post-punk converged on 120 Minutes. Such deliberate allusions are Gerard Way's sly nod to his audience, an admission of how he belongs to an art-punk tradition that stretches back several decades, but his first solo effort after the disbandment of My Chemical Romance isn't a re-creation of the glory days of glam. I would give ‘Hesitant Alien’ a very strong recommendation.The very title of Hesitant Alien conjures memories of David Bowie, just like how the album artwork evokes the Thin White Duke's iconic cover for Heroes (which was later repurposed for Bowie's own The Next Day). Some songs may be more memorable than others, and if you aren’t a fan of Gerard Way’s voice I would not reccomend this album.
The album feels very tight, and with 11 tracks it flows very well together. In my opinion ‘Hesitant Alien’ is a fantastic album that is both emotionally potent while being abrasive and incredibly fuzzy. ‘Maya the Psychic’ was written about Gerard creating a character that was able to be defined by his mental illness. Examples of this are in songs like ‘No Shows’ and ‘Maya the Psychic’ where we see Gerard coming to terms with many things internally. Gerard’s lyrics on many songs feel like they come from a very personal place.
Most of the lyrics on ‘Hesitant Alien’ feel like they compliment the tone and overall feel of each song very well. The album is able to weave through very explosive tracks like ‘Juarez’ and ‘Action Cat’ while having more calm intimate songs like ‘Brother’ or ‘Drugstore Perfume.’ ‘Millions’ is a great example of being very upbeat and energetic, while at the same time very somber and joyous. The neo-glam atmosphere is present throughout the entire album but ‘Hesitant Alien’ is able to have different bursts of high energy throughout it’s run time. I see ‘Hesitant Alien’ as a very diverse album. The ominous tone on ‘Zero Zero’ is complimented by the chugging bass guitar and Gerard’s anxious yet sinister vocals. On ‘Get the Gang Together’ Gerard is able to express great passion and sass to his vocal work, almost as if he was playing some eccentric character. On tracks like ‘No Shows,’ ‘ Get the Gang Together,’ ‘ How it’s Going to Be,’ and ‘Maya the Psychic’ we see Gerard experimenting with singing in higher ranges. The approach Gerard takes to singing on this album, is similar to how he sang with his band, My Chemical Romance. We see Gerard Way singing with great passion and vitality on every track of the album. One of the best qualities of ‘Hesitant Alien’ is Gerard Way’s voice. While ‘The Bureau’ may not be the explosive opener that people may have been expecting, it still does a great job at opening the album. The opening track, ‘The Bureau’ sludges along at almost a crawling pace, the hard hitting drums and piano are able to compliment the song nicely.
Songs like ‘Juarez’ and ‘Get the Gang Back Together’ are great examples of the prominent role of the distorted and fuzzed out guitars. Many of the fuzzed out and abrasive guitars draw similarities to Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Gerard Way has cited artists like David Bowie and Pulp as big inspirations to this album. Many of the inspirations for ‘Hesitant Alien’ include early 90’s britpop, shoegaze, and other forms of noise rock. However, this album is able to differentiate itself from My Chemical Romance in many ways. ‘Hesitant Alien’ does share similarities to My Chemical Romance’s later work in the way the songs are structured. All of the music was written by Gerard Way and the instruments were played by the band, The Hormones. Gerard was able to start writing music shortly afterwards, which led to the release of ‘Hesitant Alien’ in 2014. After the disbandment of My Chemical Romance in 2013, Gerard Way was originally unsure whether he would ever make music again. ‘Hesitant Alien’ is the first solo album by Gerard Way, former frontman for My Chemical Romance.
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