COLD WAR KIDS – Dear Miss Lonelyhearts
01. Miracle Mile
02. Lost That Easy
03. Loner Phase
04. Fear & Trembling
05. Tuxedos
06. Bottled Affection
07. Jailbirds
08. Water & Power
09. Dear Miss Lonelyhearts
10. Bitter Poem
We have good news for those who think it’s time for some new and powerful Californian Indie Rock – COLD WAR KIDS come up with their brandnew 4th studioalbum Dear Miss Lonelyhearts release on 2 April 2013 via Downtown Records. They already unveiled 10 trailers on their homepage for it, one trailer for each song of the record. In the trailers you can hear some parts of the songs and see how they recorded it, justifiably that arouses curiosity.
Ever since their catchy and soulful previous LPs COLD WAR KIDS have established themselves quite well in the indie scene. With their own style and Nathans’ unique and incredibly recognizable voice they managed to place their song Royal Blue in the famous US series One Tree Hill, which is well known for fantastic music.
So what should we expect from their new and 4th LP recorded at the San Perdo, CA studio and produced by Lars Stalforst. Are the COLD WAR KIDS supposed to do great things with it and is the album going to be a so called Miracle Mile – like the name of the 1st song and the first line of the album? Well, that’s what lead singer Nathan Willett mentioned “We were shaken up, ready to let certain songs go further than before by trying new styles and arrangements, while keeping others sparse and caring more about the finished product and less about how we got there” Indeed it’s is the most diverse record of them – they bring strong choruses like they used to do, nice piano driven pop songs, modern stuff, a lot of soul and some nice ballads. Maybe all the courage for changes comes from their new guitarist and friend of the band Dann Gallucci, who was in the amazing band MODEST MOUSE. He replaces earlier guitarist Jonnie who was in the band for 7 years.
First song of their album is also their first single of it – like mentioned before it’s called Miracle Mile. Doubtless it’s a really energetic song, powerful, piano focused, joyful, fast paced and enthusiastic. Other highlights are Loner Phase and Jailbirds which are quite pop-focussed. But the band doesn’t banish their old style we all know and love from the band – Tuxedoes for instance is full of blues and the gently sloping drums seem to be unbelievably close. The piano driven song Water and Power is one of their good songs, it is kind of different to the other songs, an emotional song which gets quite expressive when you turn up the volume a bit. The album closes with two slow and ballad-like songs. Dear Miss Lonelyhearts and Bitter Poem. It is totally understandable why they named the record after the song Dear Miss Lonelyhearts or the song after the record – however, lyrically and melodically a masterpiece and definitely something special. Bitter Poem completes the record in a nice and gentle way. It is definitely the best song to be the last one and it is probably not as bitter as the title implies – although it is really emotional, rhythmical and it could cause some tears.
All in all the ten track album is really exciting and it is a must have for every COLD WAR KIDS lover, but maybe you should also have a listen if they couldn’t convince you so far, as they come up with some new tunes and a previous MODEST MOUSE guitarist. Trust us – it’s a record with something for every mood on it – whether you want to dance, sing, jump, be thoughtful or listen to something sad you’ll find it.
—