Cold War Kids / Mine Is Yours

Cold War Kids
Mine Is Yours
(Downtown Records)

Cold War Kids seemed all but finished after the release of their last album. The early promise and musical flair exhibited on ‘Robbers and Cowards’ quickly evaporated, leaving them to fall victim to the difficult second album cliché that’s often scoffed at by music journalists and people choking on biscuits.
‘Mine Is Yours’ is, on balance, their most mainstream release to date. This fact alone is sure to elate and disappoint in equal measure, but let’s look at this rationally: yes, they no longer sound like the ragged, blues-soaked garage band that first wowed us initially, but then they don’t sound like the slightly directionless wanderers from ‘Loyalty to Loyalty either’. We call that a net win.
The songs sound bigger in both structure and production, built for Academy-level venues instead of dingy little bars. A happy consequence of this is that the album as a whole feels much less reliant on Nathan Willett’s voice and a beaten up piano alone. Whilst this fuller sound contributes to a more anthemic feel, long-term fans need not worry about CWK ‘doing a Kings of Leon’ and selling their soul for mediocre MOR airplay to the masses.
‘Sensitive Kid’ and ‘Cold Toes’ both highlight the fact that the bluesy CWK of old is still very much alive and kicking and, whilst ‘Mine Is Yours’ isn’t quite a return to form, it’s certainly a step in the right direction – one that we here at Artrocker are very glad they’ve taken.