KOL: When You See Yourself

Proof of purchase.  The CD comes with a nicely styled lyrics booklet.

Long-time readers know I'm a late-arriving Kings of Leon fan.  By coincidence, the popular southern garage band dropped their latest album, When You See Yourself, on March 5, the same day as Neil let loose of the second volume of his Archives to the rest of us (see previous post).  Being absorbed with Neil, I have only lately had a chance to listen to the new KOL release, their eighth studio recording.  (As a side note, KOL became the first band in history to issue its album as an NFT. Pretty cool!)

The album is not exceptional KOL but that does not matter.  It is solid KOL.  The band is not trying to experiment or redefine themselves.  It sounds like classic KOL, which a good thing.  When I listen to KOL, I feel a happy, youthful energy that I used to associate with Coldplay before that more famous band went too heavy on the synthesizers and lost my interest.  KOL remains basic and straightforward, though there is more synthy here than usual. 

These guys are not great musicians.  But that doesn't matter either.  They have a unique chemistry that definitely proves the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  The same can be said for When You See Yourself.  There are no tracks that really blow me away but there are none that make me cringe (much) either.  Overall, the album is solid and makes me feel good.  What the hell else is a record supposed to do?

It is fun to hear new KOL.  As I have mentioned before, this band, despite its limitations, is capable of creating a masterpiece album.  They did that with Mechanical Bull, still one of the best rock albums I've listened to in the 21st century.  Comparatively, When You See Yourself is not as good, but it's no big deal.  They may never be able to reproduce that level of perfection again.  (The way, say, Pink Floyd did over and over in the 70's or Coldplay 20 years ago.)  I'm OK with that.  KOL proves that their classic sound still resonates and has a lot of entertainment left to offer.

The best two songs on the record are middle tracks.  “A Wave” is a wonderful, multi-faceted song that unfolds in stages from soft piano to become a full-blown rocking anthem.  Good to crank up LOUD.  Would love to hear this song live.  It has a spacious, atmospheric quality to it.  Nothing too hard but definitely with an edge and a joy.  This might be the most artistic song on the album.  It is certainly the most sentimental.  I don't care.  It makes me smile to hear it.  “I'm drying out in this weather, Feeling of parasites / And the time when the night feels better, is when you don't go.”  

“Golden Restless Age” takes a cautionary jab at life, infused with an energetic beauty to it.  Lyrically, the album reaches its height with the lines: “You are only passing through a form of you / I look in your eyes and there's a rage / And time won't turn the page / It hits you headlong to go it alone.”  The youthful, enthused instant refuses to yield the titillating, sensual present to whatever the future might bring.  This is a bright, upbeat song about giving it all to the moment.  Nice, sexy undertone to this one too.  This song feels so good.

“When You See Yourself, Are You Far Away” is the album's title track, obviously.  There's just a bit more to the song's title that turns it into a fortune cookie-style zen koan.  This is the album's first track and really is a nice choice.  The first three minutes are splendid, classic KOL, as good a vibe as you'll hear them play.  Very nice mixing in of keyboards that helps keep the drive going.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason they decided to make this wonderful song go on ad nauseam with 25 (!) repeats of the phrase “One more night.”  This is bothersome after about 10 - 12 times the first time you listen to it.  Upon repeat listenings it becomes an irritation.  KOL are stuck in themselves for a couple of minutes here.  They manage to ruin a good song, which is not exactly the way you want to start off an album.

The other material is, as I said before, variations of the classic KOL sound.  For the most part they manage to remain unstuck and the songs all flow very well together.  It is nice background music for a party...if I ever get to host one again.  These guys deserve an incredible amount of credit.  They are only average musicians but they create a great sound.  They have worked their asses off to get here.  They invented themselves and now they are perhaps my favorite contemporary band.  I'm glad that they look into the future through their music and see passion and possibilities, no time for brooding.  Seize the moment when you see yourself. 

As of this post, When You See Yourself has made it to #1 on the UK and Australia.  It is at #2 in the US.  With over 400 ratings on Amazon, the album has 79% 5-star ratings and 13% 4-star ratings.  Looks like the world loves this sound.