Guest Review - Cold War Kids' "Mine Is Yours"

Cold War Kids, Mine Is Yours,
Downtown, 2011

We at Common Ground are very excited to present our first ever guest contribution. Raul Flores provided us with a review of the Cold War Kids latest album. Look for more pieces by him and others in the near future. If you'd like to submit an article, leave us a shout. 

By Raul Flores

April 19, 2011

As someone who has really come to enjoy the Cold War Kids music since their 2006 debut Robbers and Cowards, I was pretty excited for the release of Mine is Yours.  I thought the 2010 EP Behave Yourself showed the band's ability to successfully capture a pop friendly sound in "Audience" while demonstrating some musical exploration in "Sermon" without losing the essence of the band – Nathan Willett's distinct and soaring vocals, guitarist Jonnie Russell's empty-room echo and reverb, a compact looseness of the bass and drums, along with a certain dirty attitude and edge that defined Cold War Kids.  I was hoping a new release would exhibit the band's growth over the past five years but maintain the essence that turns these California kids into the Cold War Kids.  Unfortunately, Mine is Yours sounds like a band going through an identity crisis and foregoing the edge displayed on previous recordings like "Hang Me Out to Dry" where the attitude seemed to be "I'm just gonna bang on this piano and see what happens."

For Mine is Yours, the Cold War Kids teamed up with producer Jacquire King who previously helped Kings of Leon achieve mainstream stardom with pop songs like “Use Somebody.”  The Cold War Kids seem to be looking for a similar destiny of commercial success on their latest album – and although I hope they achieve it, it comes off a little forced and overproduced.  That’s not to say this is a bad album, it’s a perfectly fine and listener friendly album with some solid songs like “Royal Blue”, but it’s not what I hoped for from the Cold War Kids and in the end it’s rather…forgettable.

The two strongest tracks on Mine is Yours are “Royal Blue” and “Cold Toes on the Cold Floor.”  If the Cold War Kids were going for an album with catchy choruses that hook the casual listener, I wish they would have followed the lead of tracks like “Royal Blue” which doesn’t quite invoke the unique themes and struggle of prior Cold War Kids songs, but still stays somewhat true to the band’s sound.  No one is going to mistake Willet’s struggle to be all in with his love in “Royal Blue” with alcoholism in “We Used to Vacation”, but I can live with that.  Near the end of the album, “Cold Toes on the Cold Floor” finally brings back a little of that bluesy raunchiness that turned me into a Cold War Kids fan and adds a few newer elements such as a little spacey organ that separates it enough from previous works to be interesting (although I could live without the line “so good to be making scrambled eggs with you”)

Other tracks on Mine is Yours signify a shift away from the band’s previous work into something a bit grander and perhaps more challenging.  The track with the most success in this category is “Out of the Wilderness” which grew on me after a few listens – it’s not a song that will blow you away, but you can at least understand the growth the band is trying to exemplify.  Along these lines, “Sensitive Kid” is a bit more classic Cold War Kids in Willet’s vocals during the verses.  The song also introduces us to the for-some-reason-indie-friendly drum machine, an unremarkable chorus and ending that fell flat on me.

The rest of the album is a strange mixture of generic rock, arena rock, sing-alongs, and having to remind yourself that you are indeed listening to the Cold War Kids.  The strongest of the “hey, maybe we’ll get famous” tracks is “Louder than Ever” which has decent verses, not-so-great lyrics, blah bridge, and what might be the catchiest of all choruses on the album…you can’t listen to this song without picturing a concert-full of people waiving their hands in unison and screaming “I CAN HEAR YOU LOUDER THAN EVERRRR!”  It’s not a bad track for what it is but not the most creative.

“I CAN HEAR YOU LOUDER THAN EVERRRR!”

The remaining tracks are really summed up by “Finally Begin” which at one point I completely forgot I was listening to the Cold War Kids (save for Russell’s guitar).  If there’s a song that hooks the teenage girls in, this is it.  It’s generic, catchy, comfortable, has an already released cheesy video, and I can honestly see this song being an opener for bands like Train and The Script.  Although not quite as drastically poppy, “Mine is Yours”, “Skip the Charades”, “Broken Open” and “Flying Upside Down” are all about love lost or found, boy/girl and sadly a bit generic.  There are times during these songs where I was like “you know what, this is a pretty good song”, but in an “I’m in line at the supermarket or listening to the radio without my ipod” kind of way.  “Bulldozer” is a little more experimental but it again explores the boy/girl theme and ventures a bit on U2 styled arena rock.

In conclusion, there are some strong points to Mine is Yours that shouldn’t be overlooked just because the album isn’t as strong as previous releases.  I’ll also add that after seeing the Cold War Kids during their current tour, a lot of these songs were strong in concert where they were a little more raw and less produced – in fact, I enjoyed seeing them this year more than in previous years.  I also applaud the Cold War Kids for trying some new things on this album, but a lot of it just falls flat on me.  I think an example of doing this right is the Black Keys (read our review of their latest album, Brothers) who went into the studio with Danger Mouse for Attack & Release and came out with a song like “Psychotic Girl” which, while different, was uniquely Black Keys.  I just hope that the Cold War Kids don’t lose those qualities that make them unique and can simply expand upon them.  To be honest, I’m interested to see where this goes – whether they will find commercial success with Mine is Yours or return to their roots with a new album.  But for now, this album made me yearn for the dirtiness of Robbers and Cowards and Loyalty to Loyalty.

Overall Grade: 6