By Makenzie Shubnell
The Talon
Rochester HS
1st Place
Division 1, News Writing
Review
It’s a rare opportunity for fans to live through the mastery of a favorite band’s sound. Listening to a favorite underdog band fully come into into their own sound is a beautiful thing for fans to witness.
Fans of Cold War Kids are cherishing the last moments they have before the band explodes into full-on indie fame.
Ditching the old uneasiness of past albums, indie rock band Cold War Kids is bursting out of a sluggish stretch of whiny, straggly tunes with their sixth clean and resounding album “L.A. Divine.”
“L.A. Divine” is a more palatable album and fans of other mainstream giants like Imagine Dragons, Bishop Briggs and Kongos will enjoy the streamlined sound Cold War Kids has perfected.
Lead singer Nathan Willett maintains his distinct croon but ditches the wobbliness that made the band hard to listen to in the past.
Cold War Kids has ironed out any wrinkles and imperfections in songs and put out a shiny, clean alternative album—one worthy of countless commercials and TV show spots.
New lead guitarist David Quon livens every track and is likely the force behind the band’s evolved sound. On tracks like “No Reason to Run” and “Can We Hang On?,” Quon’s skills carry the songs past the typical Cold War Kids-esque vibe.
Matching a new grittier, spooky sound that is gracing almost every alternative radio station, “Open Up the Heavens” is an interesting switch-up offered on the album. While the group tends to stay pretty upbeat, the track shows an unexpected darker side.
Tucked in the solid arrangement of songs are a few experimental tracks that show snippets of intimate trial and-error that is often left to be cut in the studio. “L.A. River” and “Cameras Always On” give listeners a better look into the creative process and a real glimpse at the meaningful moments one has, especially dealing with the distorted sense of self that fame brings. Cold War Kids are owning up to their big status in the industry, and it shows through in these little moments offered on the album.
Blending their typical existentialism with current events, “L.A. Divine” is slightly politicized, marking a bold move for the band. The maturation of sound and content is most evident on tracks “Wilshire Protest” and “Invincible,” where Willett battles with internal struggles that every impassioned bystander in a chaotic political climate feels.
While the album as a whole is impressive in quality and intensity for most tracks, fans may be let down at “So Tied Up” featuring alternative favorite Bishop Briggs.
Briggs adds little to the track, leaving fans who are used to her awesome vocal presence feeling cheated. The opportunity for greatness was lost on the track, as the blending of the two voices held immense potential.
Breakout tracks “Love is Mystical” and “Restless” show that Willett can access the same emotional depth that he has for his entire career without the croaky nonsense that grated over earlier albums.
With “L.A. Divinel,” Cold War Kids shows that they have the potential to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other alternative giants like The Black Keys and become an even more entrenched household name in indie music.
“L.A. Divine” shows that the band has taken what they do best and built on it to create something that has the strength to last. Their swooping ballads and heavy-hitting songs are reinforced by years of experience that make almost every track golden.
For longtime fans, “L.A. Divine” will come as a satisfying addition to a long stretch of monotonous tunes recognizing Eilish as one artist to look for in the coming year. The record contains eight songs with a wide variety of sounds, and is chock full of passionate and impressive vocals.
From the album, Eilish has released nearly every one of the songs as a single, including one from the hit Netflix TV show, “13 Reasons Why,” titled “ocean eyes.” The song is what brought attention to Eilish to begin with, seeing as it was being heard by every viewer of the show. The song is an interesting contrast to the rest of her music, as it’s more of a ballad than anything else.
Her typically edgy sound and pop elements are juxtaposed in this song with a slow beat and softer vocals. One of her more popular songs, “bellyache,” is one that seemingly embodies Eilish’s style, as it blends a lot of her prefered genres. The development of the beat in the song goes from an almost folk-indie guitar riff to a beat drop that includes accompanying electronic vocals.
The song’s subject matter is far from upbeat, as much as the music behind it would have people believe. In fact, a lot of her songs have darker subjects, regardless of how young she is. Because of this, her lyrics come off as sophisticated and mature, much more so than most grown artists in the industry today.
Although these songs about heartbreak, abuse and insanity may sound intimidating, the music is generally pretty catchy. Despite her unique sound, there are still typical pop elements in most of her music, which contributes to her growing popularity among teens and young adults.
One track on Eilish’s album titled “COPYCAT” is another example of her strong voice and relatively intimidating tone, considering the song seems to target one individual in particular.
While many of the songs she writes are admittedly about experiences she hasn’t personally been through, she admits in an interview with Genius that this song is one she really pulled from a personal account, stating that there was a girl she had seen on social media seemingly copying her every move. Because of the real-life nature of the track, it’s obvious that this song holds a lot of frustration in her performance, resulting in extremely passionate and hard-hitting vocals.
Ultimately, this song is one of the more popular on the album, and for good reason. The song has plenty of complex beat changes, as well as a great representation of her wide vocal range.
Representing herself as a strong young woman who means absolute business, Eilish is already on the right path to stardom and overall success in the music world. The headstart she’s taken as a young teen has already proven itself to create great experience for the singer, and the quality of the content being produced by her is enough to blow listeners out of the water.
Between the passion, individuality and pure raw talent, Billie Eilish’s album “dont smile at me” has rightfully earned itself a 5/5 stars.