After watching at the last night, you could say that Coldplay ruined everything. With the advent of their urbane four-piece virtuosity, falsetto trill, thumping rhythm section and winsome swagger; Coldplay helped redefine rock music and paved the path for a legion of bleary imitators. A&R stiffs have since co-opted this sacred patina as a pedigree for success in all bands of seemingly similar construct.
Cold War Kids, an intentionally-flawed band from Long Beach, has been unwittingly flung into this archetypal box. To a packed throng at the Ogden on Tuesday, the band gave their new material from “Mine Is Yours” a baptismal plunge in front of fans who are probably more akin to songs of a different ilk. Previous albums, “Robbers & Cowards” and “Loyalty To Loyalty,” showcased a popular disheveled and undercooked sound; while their newest record (produced by Jacquire King — who worked on the last two Kings Of Leon albums) is notably more orthodox and circumspect.
For that reason, most critics have panned the new songs as sounding a little listless and uninspired. Opening with “Royal Blue,” the departure in sound was readily conspicuous. The unabridged assault of their former selves was missing.
But old standards from their catalog got things back to normal. “Hang Me Out To Dry” and “Hospital Beds” rang loudly with a soulful blend of haphazard wallow and pots-and-pans clang. “Audience” was smooth and concise with a steady refrain buoyed by the groovy teeter of lead-singer Nathan Willettap mischievous croon. “Santa Ana Winds” and “Hospital Beds” were dirty, gruff, and unapologetic — a formula that is never trite or too commercialized. The encore, heightened by the old-timey stomp of “Saint John,” was a terrific maze of ringing bottles, maracas and orphaned cymbals.
In all, if something was learned from last nightap show, it is that a beautiful song doesn’t need to be built on a 4/4 time signature or diluted of its awkward composition in order to garner acclaim. In the case of Cold War Kids, perhaps the more unruly the song, the better.
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Kris K. Coe is a freelance writer, Denver-native, and new contributor to Reverb.
Nathan Iverson is a Denver photographer and regular contributor to Reverb.
