November 2, 2010

Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown [56/100]

By Daniel

Preface: I’m listening to the new Kings of Leon album with a few preconceived notions. Mainly, I dislike the stuff they put on the radio, like, a lot. I found it insincere, sexist and generally not to my palate at all (too much pop in my rock). That said, I’ve heard plenty of bands that make poor decisions when it comes to their choice of singles and thus resigned myself to listening to their new album, Come Around Sundown, in its entirety unless I cry uncle. Having said all that, I do believe I can remain quite neutral going into this album as none of those songs are on here.

Notes: “The End” starts out with minimalist drums, a smooth electric guitar and long synthesizers reminiscent of M83. The first thing that comes to mind is listening to the lyrics…they don’t make much sense, more a thematic rock mashup than a song. The second thing is there are some interesting choice of instruments, from that scratchy sythesizer to a simple ending on ps iano. Undecided thus far. “Radioactive” is the first single off the album and the only track I’ve heard on this album prior to tonight. Nice melodic guitar and an admittedly solid vocal performance. Choral backing in the bridge and last chorus was something I hadn’t previously noticed, and again an interesting and innovative choice for rock. Solid. “Pyro” has a sad feeling though it’s not in a minor scale, I think it’s emotion in the vocals giving the song a bluesy cast and that’s not easily done. The chorus and bridge are both quite well done technically, quite pleasurable to listen to. Despite it I’m not feeling a ton of variation yet technically with respect to arrangement, timing. “Mary” provides a good opportunity for the sound to change up to accomodate the country-esque lyrics, but the closest they come to is a blues beat being thumped out by the kick drum, and the rest is the same overdriven guitars and choral backing I’ve heard on half the tracks thus far. Disappointed. “The Face” is primarily slightly overdriven guitars, kick drums and little electric guitar stings. I’m like I’ve heard this song before, changing up synthesizers for guitar stings and keeping equally nonsensical lyrics doesn’t give you a new song. “The Immortals” offers a slightly moodier melody with a BPM slowdown over the chorus, which gives the song more character than the last few. This one might be my favorite so far, the lyrics are a step up from the others so far and all in all it’s quite a well-done song. “Back Down South” opens up with delayed steel guitar (possibly just a slide guitar) and violin, could this be them breaking the mold? It’s quite good, the opening instruments stick around and are joined by a simple kick drum and tambourine, this could easily be a country-rock crossover track, and proof the guys can innovate if they put their mind to it. The improvised ending feels authentic and is a good ending for the song. Very well done track. “Beach Side” is an uptempo track with funk elements that drops into a half-time feel with bass guitar, slide guitar stings and tons of character. This has the closest connection to the cover art than anything else thus far. I quite like this one, with the best use of drums so far. Liked it enough that I was disappointed it was so short. “No Money” is a bit more of what I’m having to call the Kings sound, see “The End”, “Mary”, and “The Face” as references. Choral backing, guitar solo, predictable arrangement. Maybe a lot of people really like it? I can only handle so many iterations on the same structure. Yawn. “Pony Up” is different enough I’m not gonna call BS on this album, but seriously, adding a wood block for percussion and single note strumming for your stings instead of a riff is pushing the limits of credibility if you’re gonna claim innovation. Maybe I’m just not cut out to enjoy this type of soft rock, but I feel like if you aren’t going to offer powerful melodies or lyrics, or tons of energy in lieu of experience or talent, you need to be innovative in some other way and I’m just not getting that. “Birthday” features simple drums and bass guitar, electric guitar stings, and…long synthesizers. Maybe N.E.R.D. is a tough act to follow. I’m actually bored before the song ends. “Mi Amigo” does feel quite different from the last few tracks, introducing a horn section and a blues rhythm to the formula, and there are again some timing changes, and the lyrics at least tell a bit of a story. The ending isn’t much to write about except I was fearing another “smash cut” like most of them have been. “Pickup Truck” features minimal drums and bass, electric guitar stings, and…long synthesizers. And the tiniest hint of piano that if I wasn’t listening to on closed-system headphones I would’ve missed entirely. I know rock in general abides by verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus but I also don’t know if I’ve heard a band with the popularity of these guys make an entire album, in 4/4, with no deviation from that pattern.

Tone and Overall Sound: 12/20 Points. The point of my new scoring system is I can leave opinion somewhat out of the equation, and I have set criteria to equate the work to. I can’t give the album more or less than 12 points in this category as there are no real flaws in the tone and sound, but also no significant innovaton.

Melody and Harmony: 8/20 Points. Too much repetition, too little innovation. Even the best tricks (or stings) in the book feel old and stale after a while, and by not moving outside of the sound that made them money in the first place this just feels weak. One or two solid melodic offerings that break the mold don’t save the score here.

Rhythmic Qualities: 8/20 Points. Too much repetition, too little innovation. As I mentioned in my notes, the whole thing is 4/4 and largely feels like the same song if you discount the superfluous changes. I’d like to think the guys have made enough money from their first few albums to have more than one drumset, so why am I hearing the exact same percussion instruments every track?

Mixing and Producion: 16/20 Points. The sound itself is quite clean, dynamics are used well and the soundstage is clean and makes good use of pans and effects where needed. Knocking a few points for album flow also being included in this category, and the number of similar tracks makes the flow somewhat jarring in itself.

Theme and Concept: 6/10 Points. I feel like there’s an attempt at an overarching theme here, and it stays with it when the lyrics don’t take a faceplant. Being personally unsure on the score to give this category, see the rubric for how I ended up at 6.

Presentation: 6/10 Points. Sepia-toned photograph, good respect of the Rule of Thirds, horizon line is unlevel, grain is a bit overdone, if they were in my Photography class they’d get a B-. The connection to the album and band is there, so it’s more my issues with the photo. No more sepia, please guys.

Total: 56/100 Points. That’s a lower score than even I was expecting going in. Alt-rock is a hot genre right now and while the guys are pioneers in a genre they’re largely inventing, from a more technical standpoint there’s a lot to take issue with, the biggest being the obvious repetition and lack of impetus to break the mold. It’s unfortunate when an artist chooses to pigeonhole themselves into such a tight set of circumstances. Not only does it always seem to upset some diehard fans when the band finally realizes they’re starved creatively and want to break free of self-imposed bonds, but it also spawns a generation of copycat bands that think it’s some magical formula. It’s not, sadly, and the magic of this group seems lost on me.

Setup:
Scoring Method: http://is.gd/gnNWc [pdf]
Sennheiser HD25-1 II
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
MOG 320kbps MP3 Stream