I Was a King: I Was a King
I Was a King: I Was a King
Friday, 05, Feb 2010 03:15
By Matt Gardner.
Hype City, out February 8th.
In a nutshell.
Silversun Pickups without the emotion.
What's it all about?
This is the de facto first album from the Norwegian duo who are hoping to hit the high notes and follow in the footsteps of their idols, having released the full thing in the US in the summer of last year.
Who's it by?
I Was a King are fronted by Frode Strømstad and have been going for a few years already in their home nation of Norway, taking huge inspiration from Dinosaur Jr, Teenage Fanclub and My Bloody Valentine. This release features Sufjan Stevens, among others, and is mixed by Nick Terry, who has formerly worked with Primal Scream, Klaxons and The Libertines.
What the others say
"Hooks are one thing, but songs are another, and the former can only rarely carry the latter. I Was a King aren't quite at that point, but the band's definitely worth watching." - Pitchfork
"Thin vocals sap the power out of the pop. Frode deserves credit for sounding melodic, but he's only got one style - a love-worn voice that drones." - Blogcritics
So is it any good?
It starts strong, maintains a sound and then tries to annoy the hell out of you every now and again: that's exactly what the situation is with this album.
You don't realise much about the album until you hit the middle track, Hard Luck Bad News, when you realise just how annoying the vocals are. It's even more monotonous than the unbelievably overhyped Somebody Told Me by The Killers, in that it holds less than two notes and doesn't even throw in a token key change to help you get through to the end. No, instead you actively get distracted by the monotony and it's telling that, aside from one or two brief flashes of greatness, the first half of the album largely flies overhead.
I Was a King have a lot of clear influences, with many of them joining them on this effort and of a pretty impressive calibre too: Sufjan Stevens, Danielson and Ladybug Transistor representatives all pop up at some point in this release. It tells, too - it's a relatively glorious and enjoyable album, though you'll hear one or two songs and generally let the rest follow suit and just drift over you.
A short album at just over 31 minutes, you could soon find this one disappearing in a sea of expectable "power-pop" - a term coined by the band to describe their approach. It's pretty accurate; the power being in the choice of instruments and the pop being in the take-it-or-leave-it nature of the songs, which are identifiable as by the band but lack any more distinguishing features aside from that.
Some efforts are great songs, though. The closing so-called full-length song Norman Bleik is really engaging and could be on one of many radio stations, combining approachable lyrics, simple picks, a detectable refrain for the chorus and enough happiness to push it through the nigh-on three minutes it rolls for.
Similarly, California - and I mean similarly, because they sound almost identical - is a minute long but perfectly formed. It changes into something altogether heavier (in the boundaries of pop) in the second half, yet it works. It's like having one of those mini Red Bulls instead of a regular can; does the same job and less is necessary.
Aside from that, everything else kind of melts into one. It's really fun to have on in the background but it never quite arrests the senses. You get caught out by the piano freakout of It's All You, which seems generally pointless in regards to the song, as well as the wailing close of Weighing Anchor - again, it's almost a prompt for you to listen up. It doesn't really work.
A lot of tracks - I mean a lot - are remarkably like Silversun Pickups more than anyone else, perhaps backed up by Bee Thousand-era Guided by Voices; the asexual vocals - leaning more towards femininity despite everyone knowing they're from a bloke - are both comforting and responsible for a restriction in enjoyment, while the coasting guitar, bass and drum carries the song in earnest.
With bands like this - ones that aren't quite breaking through to mainstream audiences but soldiering on nonetheless - you pick up a lot of different views from all corners of the internet and they usually represent all views. One thing I've found with I Was a King is a consistent criticism and one which, it must be said, is utterly true: the vocals are just too flat. Really, they are.
As much as it makes another independent review part of the crowd, it's better to admit an obvious point than make one up that's not true. Everything else about these guys seems quite impressive: the guitar work is impressively optimistic and the emotion through various guitar solos is absolutely excellent.
Still, it's just not... emotionally involving. It's like a Kinder Surprise: chipping away at the exciting-looking veneer soon gives way to an uninspiring and deflationary inner core. And yet you go back and try again, because you know that next time, there'll be something better. With I Was a King, I reckon there is much better to come.
5/10