Coinciding with the release of their sophomore LP, "Loyalty to Loyalty," Long Beach's Cold War Kids embarked on a two month tour through North America and Europe last week after playing their first official show Sept. 24 at the Music Box in Hollywood.
The Kids rose to fame after constant touring and the release of their first album, "Robbers and Cowards," which created an online buzz in blogging communities, catapulting them into indie-rock stardom.
CWK started in 2004, writing and rehearsing songs in guitarist Jonnie Russell's apartment in Fullerton. They released three EP's before remixing and mastering the best songs from the EP's and making them into their debut album.
With "Loyalty to Loyalty," CWK have demonstrated maturation, yet still hold onto the warmth of their albums, in which much is recorded live. Instead of cluttered and compressed layers, they utilize a true stereophonic sound, reminiscent of a recording from the 1960s, but bolder, fuller and more organic sounding.
Lyrically, "Loyalty" stands in stark contrast to "Robbers" and seems more based in the future and today's socioeconomic challenges and governmental tension as the first track "Against Privacy," sets the tone for the album with the lyric, "forget ex-girlfriends, we want little government."
Real highlights from the album include the dark rocker "I've Seen Enough," the funky "Relief," and the tense "Dreams Old Men Dream," all of which were performed at their recent concert. The album had only been released the day before the Hollywood show, so unfortunately much of the crowd was unfamiliar with their new material.
Keeping in theme with the album art for "Loyalty to Loyalty," CWK's light show consisted of a few small white lights that illuminated the stage that was adorned by a huge banner with the skeleton from the cover art sitting and smiling. Not one color was used in the minimalist light show and some songs were played entirely in the dark.
They also filtered in songs from "Robbers and Cowards," including indie radio hits "We Used To Vacation," and "Hang Me Up To Dry," as well as "God Make Up Your Mind," which is built on falsetto harmonies sliding up and down, but didn't give too much attention to their prior work.
One of the many great things about this band is the fact that they sound just as good live as they do on their albums, because they don't over produce their sound and are really into capturing a natural sound.
To close the show, CWK brought out the horn section from an opening band to jam on fan favorite "Saint John," which enticed the entire audience to sing along. The only weak moments in the entire show were "Every Valley Is Not A Lake," and the fact that they neglected to play "Tell Me In The Morning," and "Red Wine, Success."
CWK will be hitting Canada and the rest of the U.S. throughout October and then will be heading to Europe in November to finish up their short, headlining tour.
