According to Andrew McMahon, Jack’s Mannequin’s third album, People and Things, can be viewed as the final installment to a three-part story. But fear not, fans – while this chapter is coming to a close, there’s still plenty to be written.

 If the 29-year-old’s debut, Everything in Transit, was his melodic break-up record, and 2008’s The Glass Passenger was a snapshot of his battle with leukemia, People and Things could analogously be referred to as “the return home,” McMahon says.

“The reality is that getting sick turned Jack’s into this long story that was really only meant to be one record, but somehow became three,” he explains. “I think, if nothing else, People and Things is about the journey, and knowing where I belong and trying to get myself okay with putting my feet down and being there.”

As much as the new album is about his voyage, People and Things also focuses on relationships, specifically dealing with the quiet things that people think twice about saying aloud. “My goal with many of the songs was to strip away the flowery language and sentiments attached to newer love and replace it with starker, less blinded language about a more binding love,” McMahon insists. “As a married artist, I struggled early on, locking into the sort of serendipitous writing benders that can come with new love. For a time, I wondered if it was possible to be a strong creative force when tied so closely to another person, a feeling that needless to say does not play out well at home.”

McMahon continues to explain that the album delves into the joys and conflicts of the first few years of marriage, as well as living with someone for the first time. “Everybody wants to say it’s all sunshine and roses, but when you start living with someone and you get married there’s a whole growing pains stage, at least there was in my world, and I think a lot of this record was about that period of time.”

“My Racing Thoughts" can be viewed as the catalyst of that theme, as when McMahon wrote it, he “began to lock into the broad concept for the writing sessions to come.” He adds, “In truth, the subject of many of the songs on the album are rooted in the simple idea of people fighting.”

He expounds further: ““Television” imagines a night where too much wine at dinner leads to harsh words and finally a TV ends up bridging the silence in the bedroom. "Racing Thoughts" is the door slamming and the car speeding away from the house and the night that follows. “People, Running” starts as a search for meaning and ends with an acceptance of chaos. “Restless Dream” and “Amy, I” are the flashes of past love that can still serve to haunt. “Release Me” is sort of the thesis statement about the tension throughout the album and whether there will be a breaking point, and “Hostage” is the moment where you realize sometimes you have to let go of someone before they realize they're where they're meant to be.”

As for the album’s simple title, the singer-songwriter says its ordinariness was deliberate. “The heart of this record is an experience that most people will go through at some time in their life, and in that sense, it’s very ordinary,” he muses. “Maybe I talk about it from an angle that to some extent is artful, but I think the language on the record is sort of stark, just like the title is.”

While the greater concept may sound depressing, this isn’t a downer record. McMahon isn’t trying to paint a negative picture; the experience is simply something he felt was worth talking about. In fact, he actually feels the album can be sub-divided into three parts: the first as an establishment of conflict; the second as a reflection of life on the road and the road as an escape from real life; and the third as the return and final acceptance of love and its presence within a world of constant motion.

McMahon is truly a storyteller, a quality that is evidenced within each of Jack’s Mannequin’s albums, as well as with all three as a whole. As for where the story goes after this point, the frontman says anything is possible. “There are a lot of things I’d like to be. I’d love to explore other mediums of art,” he says. “I would love to experiment and explore music in new ways. We’ll see…I guess time will tell.” To be continued…