Heads
To hear them tell it, success came easy and early for Cold War Kids: They all got trendy jobs at an L.A. fashion store, wrote a much-lauded EP and the next minute were having their wardrobes dissected by Rolling Stone over a two-page spread. They were young, well-dressed and had their own synthesis of rock ‘n’ roll sounds that was more antiquated than vintage, more fantascope than Polaroid camera. In other words, they seemed poised for red carpet levels of glory.
Songs like “Hospital Beds” and “Hang Me Up to Dry” eschewed trends and supported the hype. Guided by singer Nathan Willett’s distinctive warble, these tracks were everyman stories, vignettes that disguised character studies as your typical platitude-laden anthemic rockers. The songs seemed beyond their young age, but they were poignant and real nonetheless.
Then Cold War Kids faded from the exposure, releasing a half-baked second album – “Loyalty to Loyalty” – that suffered from road fatigue. A misguided third record – “Mine is Yours,” their 2011 effort – found them playing dress up in an “Only By the Night”-style Kings of Leon production. The albums were missteps, but they helped the band build a solid catalog in the process.
In the countless music revolutions since 2007, Cold War Kids became a footnote to the music scene. I would have completely forgot about them, if not for catching their performance at the WFNX Clambake in 2011.
Unlike other indie also-rans, Cold War Kids have a secret. They’ve been building a great, live show. Watching them perform, I was reminded of Pearl Jam – in my opinion the world’s reigning live band – in the way they commanded the stage and shepherded first-time listeners through backtracks. Songs like “Something is Not Right With Me” and “Mexican Dogs” may have sounded half baked on record, but they had stage presence.
Coming out of the gate like the running of the bulls, it seems at first listen that “Dear Miss Lonelyhearts” has finally committed their live aptitude to record. “Miracle Mile” and “Lost that Easy,” the records one-two leadoff punch, are thundering steps out of hermitdom, good enough to please the Don Draper-worshipping bros who buy fistfulls of concert tickets, as well as the passive indie kids, who appreciate big-tent songwriting when it has merit.
If one of these songs lands on FM radio, this disc could become a monster, and it would be a deserved comeback for a band that many wrote off but never stopped trying. Here’s hoping the band’s “Loner Phase” is over.
Tails
Few bands have lived up to their name like California rockers Cold War Kids: Their promise has always been more threat than action. Their stardom became almost theoretical – a series of dead-of-night exchanges on red phones between music journalists, the only group that really ever seemed to buy into the hype.
With “Dear Miss Lonelyhearts,” the band is once again trying to clamor onto the Kings of Leon-Black Keys bandwagon. The issue is that while Cold War Kids has much in common sonically with these stadium-size stars, they’re too eccentric and prone to tossing off little gems like “Tuxedos” – character studies about the lives of waiters at conference halls.
In this way, Cold War Kids may be adept at a thankless oxymoron, projecting internal emotion. And while it’s their strength, it seems like a shackle that will keep holding them back from appealing to more than the dedicated club crowds, who have kept with the band through the years.
Third track “Loner Phase” even seems to address this fall from grace directly, with Willett singing: “They’re calling you a genius / Is that why you’re acting so competitive?”
The verse is propulsive, akin to Kings of Leon’s “Closer,” but the chorus cuts the track with a strange interlude. “I went to hell to watch you in outer space.” Unlike their earlier work, it just doesn’t make any emotional sense. The only distance here is between Willett and his writing.
After this, the album stumbles through lackluster or subtly strong tracks that don’t have the same immediate appeal. They’re not bad songs, they just came out a little blurry without the flash. In this light, “Dear Miss Lonelyhearts” seems like just another school photo in the band’s progression, one that will grow their fan base by an increment but do little to bring them into the limelight they deserve to be in.
Time will tell if Cold War Kids has a great record in them, but as of now, it seems like they’re going to be just another awkward kid in the yearbook, known for a few odd ticks in behavior, an exciting talent show performance and nothing more.
Verdict: Tails
Pete Rizzo can be reached at prizzo@thoughtpollution.com.