Written by Tom Bedding
On the bands 8th studio album, Kings Of Leon wanted to forget about the radio and business aspect that they, as a commodity these days, have ended up dwelling about when recording music.
The result feels youthful at points and also focused on capturing the beautiful moment of inspiration that is found in songwriting; however the ideas do feel a tad stretched out to ensure the long wait of another album for fans, was worth the wait. Despite this record ensuring it will please most fans, I was left wondering if there could be of been another track or two (and cut down the 11 tracks already on here) to really nail this effort.
The opening of the first track is very pretty and calming, with a gentle guitar line and accompanied backing chimes, to fill out the production. ’When You See Yourself...’ is a peaceful way to start the album, offering us a warm welcome and easy first step into what this legendary band has to offer this time around. The drumming keeps you engaged throughout this reasonably long opener, it does hang around a bit but this whole record has a lot of songs like it, which is not too surprising as the LP is 51 minutes, with just 11 tracks..
Next is one of the first singles called ‘The Bandit’, a very them name of a song for sure! Written about a bandit and a bounty hunter, it feels the band are having a huge amount of fun on this single, leading many to get very excited about the bands next offering when this was released at the start of the year.
Despite the catchiness of the previous singles in recent years, the youthful aspect woven into this cut just makes KOL feel so refreshed and filled with such purpose so much more when compared to those prior releases. The melody also glides from the prechrous to the chorus wonderfully, with the guitars and bass backing up so wildly and joyfully.
‘100,00 People’ was another early single off ‘When You See Yourself’ and you can not deny how mightily impressive it is. Caleb Followill was sadly inspired by his Father in Law having either Alzheimer’s or Dementia and wanted to write a love song, with the tragic concept in mind. The dream like guitar and persuasion, with its similarities to Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, does set the tone of the single exquisitely and calmly.
The lyrics of ‘I can’t seem to place your name, I know the face that I can’t explain, In my mind you’re everything’ are very touching and represent the ordeal the lovers in the song, are going through. The whole song is wonderful, the gentle nature and melody flows like a river and takes us away to somewhere, that only talented songwriters can take us.
Now from these early moments, you are left impressed by Kings Of Leon’s latest effort. The ideas found on the first third of the record do leave you impressed but still wary if this form will continue later on into the album. Thankfully, the suffery vibe of ‘Stormy Weather’ includes a cool bass line and a very typical but impressive KOL slide guitar, you could even say this cut gets better and better as it goes along too. The inclusion of the piano is also a lovely touch and truly makes this song a great moment on the record.
‘A Wave’ has a slight arena rock aspect to its first third which is a different vibe to the rest of the album, offering an expansive feel to ‘When You See Yourself’. However this number does not really go anywhere despite the band coming into the fray in the middle of the song and the guitar hook becoming prevalent.
Then on ‘Golden Restless Age’, its tension of wanting to be released is felt but the Bruce like chorus does not really hit any kind of emotion. You are left wondering how you experienced a 'lift' during the song without actually feeling it?
credit: Kings Of Leon Press Kit
What is nice about this LP, is how Kings of Leon do offer some slight twists to the albums sound and we hear that on ‘Time in Disguise’. It is a nice shift in things at this point, with its cool instrumentation and the melody being a bit stronger than the last previous tracks. The wind feels like its blowing within the mix too, while the slight 80’s synths offer a different and much needed texture that breaks up the album well.
‘Supermarket’ has a lush feel to it, with the guitar tones having a soft touch to them, while the bass playing keeps the song to a rougher angle. Sadly this song goes on a tad too long and as mentioned earlier, that is one of the few problems of the album and leaves you wishing there were tracks to play with.
Caleb sings later on about a conversation between Mother Nature and Mankind on ‘Claire and Eddie’. The acoustic guitar offers us a calming and grounding sound, that backs up the lyrics really well! The lyrics are solid, offering some great imagery and significant points about our relationship with the Earth and the kindred spirit we innately have with it. Melody wise, it feels engaging and doesn’t feel too drawn out unlike previous tracks, it is pretty decent in all truth.
‘Echoing’ is cleverly placed at the back end of the album, as many KOL fans will enjoy the atmosphere and spirt found on this infectious single. The repetitive guitar in the verses and then its razor like tone during certain moments on the track, is a lot of fun.
It is much needed to return of that youthful approach we heard on the first tracks on ‘When You See Yourself’, which has to be said, makes the Nashville’s latest record more appetising than the previous album. Lyric wise, we have two lovers who want to escape the restrictions of their small town and create actual memories, dreaming of the high seas and beaches.
To conclude this interesting album that does fill purposely filled up with stretched out ideas, we have the song ‘Fairytale’. The final track includes a subtle, cute’ keyboard that is found deep in the mix, though I do wish it had more space to be appreciated.
What is interesting with this one is how it does not feel like it has a reference point from an another artist, that the band have been inspired by. Annoyingly though, it does not impress you completely with its intentions as it really needs some flavour, to hit the sweet spot to finish the album strongly and memorably.
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