Mine Is Yours

There have been so many good releases in 2011 already! One that I can not stop listening to lately is Mine is Yours by Cold War Kids. This album is Indie-Rock / Pop perfection. I have never understood why some bands do not receive airplay on commercial radio (I am talking Western Australian radio.) I am of the opinion that the average human being is a moron and will listen to whatever he / she is fed, not because they necessarily like it, but more they are not interested enough to really listen to the music they are exposed to. That being the case, I find it infuriatingly frustrating that we can’t be listening to bands such as Cold War Kids on the radio.

Granted their earlier releases were more on the ‘indie’ side of things, but this little gem has it all. Short, easy to listen to tracks, nice lyrics and very catchy choruses. While I have always enjoyed the music of Cold War Kids, I have never really been overly impressed by any of the previous efforts. Robbers & Cowards and Loyalty to Loyalty were good albums; I just never really took to them the way I have with this release.

My attention was sparked with the release of their Behave Yourself EP, or more specifically the single; Audience. It was, I thought, a slightly different sound for the band and one that I really enjoyed. After this release I heard the track Louder than Ever from Mine is Yours. It was a really nice upbeat song with a very catchy chorus which worked itself into my mind and sat on repeat. I found this to be the song I would randomly be singing to myself around the house or at work for at least a couple of weeks.

On the strength of Louder than Ever, I purchased myself a copy of the album. Some albums take a few listens to fully appreciate and some take even longer to really make an impression. Mine is Yours was nothing like this however as it was catchy enough to sink my teeth straight in to it.

Every track is strong. There is no filler on this album. The album opens will the slow building mellow-ish title track and is followed by Louder than Ever. It then progresses into track-after-track of catchy soft rock perfection closing with Flying Upside Down, a track as strong as any other on the album.

After smashing this disc on heavy rotation I can honestly say it is one of the best albums I have purchased in a long time. It is not that it is ground-breaking or life changing music, it is simply a damn good record which is really easy to listen to and really easy to enjoy. Highlights for me include the tracks Finally Begin and Skip the Charades. It is impossible to not sing along to these two songs.

A quick look at the Wikipedia page for the album reveals that it did not fare to well with critics, receiving quite an average response from magazines such as Rolling Stone & NME. Heading back to the issue with commercial radio not playing music by bands like Cold War Kids, and considering what is popular with publications like these in 2011, to me, this is all the proof you need that this is an album of substance, which is worth giving a go. I am still listening to this disc and liked it enough to buy a vinyl copy to add to my record collection and as I don’t see this album hitting the radio stations any time soon, that will have to do.