Cold War Kids
Mine Is Yours

"The second album is always the most difficult in an artist's career," sang Caparezza, deliberately referencing a barrage of clichés, and within clichés there's always a grain of truth hidden; when in 2006 the Cold War Kids released the excellent "Robbers & Cowards," they proposed an enticing blend of Rock, Blues, and Folk that made them top of the class in musical categories reserved for niches. Therefore, they fell into the temptation of releasing a second album in 2008 ("Loyalty To Loyalty") that followed in the footsteps of its predecessor, accentuating those Blues nuances that had been seen before, but without saying anything too different to not immediately lose their identity. Result: a fraction of a percentage of those who had already listened to the first album paid any attention to it.

Thus, with their third release, this "Mine Is Yours" produced by Jacquire King, the Cold War Kids decide to aim for a wider audience, smoothing out the tones that led them out of the mainstream and made them an Indie product not only in label but also in fact. Frontman Nathan Willett decides that with the EP "Behave Yourself" the first part of the group's career can be considered over, and that it is time to become more mature in making music, subjecting themselves just enough to the commercial smoothings that please the masses.

The first listen sounds decidedly strange for those who in 2007 saw that chubby boy with greasy blonde hair and a brown t-shirt arrive all sweaty, sitting at the piano, at the highest notes of the staff, what happened to the groove? And the smoke of the venues? "Mine Is Yours," "Louder Than Ever," and "Royal Blue" pass by, and you immediately notice the change: less closed and rough sounds in favor of more airy and anthemic music, Jonnie Russell's guitar no longer scratches but rings, the songs appear more radiant than one might have expected. Reaching "Finally Begin," you hear the suspended entrance of the guitar mid-air, her again, and you understand that there's no going back, yet a half-smile escapes; the track, like the entire album, has a strong and compelling impact, it's okay that you've grown, it's okay that you've decided to sell a few more copies, but you know what you're doing. The evidence is scattered throughout all 11 tracks, from the soft "Skip The Charades" to the bare "Sensitive Kid," from the liberating "Out Of The Wilderness" to "Bulldozer," perhaps the best track. None truly excel and none truly fall short, but between the two poles, it leans more towards the first.

It is difficult to accept change, in general, and this specific case of the Cold War Kids doesn't provide sufficient reasons to unanimously assert that such change was necessary; there's nothing with the extraordinary force of "Hospital Beds," so it will leave opinions divided, as it should be. It reminds me of a passage from "Mediterraneo" by Gabriele Salvatores, where the characters were defined as people living through that phase of their existence where they are suspended between the desire to flee and the desire to stop and build their lives; this album is suitable for such people.