Kings of Leon return to a sound that’s familiar, if slightly over done, with their ninth album: “Can We Please Have fun”.
Breaking into the scene in 2003, Kings of Leon have kept a relatively steady pace for album releases; their sound changing slightly every album.
Beginning their career as almost a southern Strokes, the band took off in popularity in 2008. With the release of their fourth album, “Only By the Night”.
They’ve never been able to reach the same heights as their seminal fourth album. Drifting from pop to blues with every new album release.
In an interview by Billboard, lead singer, Caleb Followill, discusses the idea for the new album, “We’re not completely reinventing ourselves, but this is definitely a refresh[…]It was a gradual thing, but we’ve evolved and changed ourselves. We’ve put a lot of effort into letting people know that we’re still here, and we’re not phoning it in 20 years down the road.”
“Got my old friend back”
Ballerina Radio opens the album with a bang, setting the fun loving atmosphere of the album perfectly. KOL’s signature bass heavy sound comes through clearly and hits just as hard as it used to.
Rainbow Ball sounds like its ripped right off of old albums like “Mechanical Bull” and “Come Around Sundown”. A story of young adulthood and enjoying life as it comes. It’s a message KOL have been spouting for just over twenty years.
Nowhere to Run brings the mood down. The fast tempo is lost, instead mellow instrumentation and slow lyrics accompany a bumping bass line and weazy acoustic guitar. The line “Are we still having fun?” defines the whole album, the band is asking the audience if they are still entertained by the Followill family.
Mustang is the crowning jewel of the album. A soon to be stadium anthem reminiscent of Sex On Fire. It’s groovy, catchy and shows KOL are still capable of writing hits.
Actual Daydream doesn’t leave the same impact as the first batch of songs. Lyrics of wishing for love and longing for connection that fell ripped straight out of their previous album “When You See Yourself”. It’s an easy listen, but it lacks much depth.
Split Screen sees the band experiment with synths more than they have before. The lyrics see the band ask where they belong in the world, it’s sombre, but it’s a great close to the first half of the album.
“I’m a man on a mission going in…Sane!”
Don’t Stop The Bleeding opens the back half of the album with familiar lyrics and a samey sound to previous songs. It’s got a great beat but lyrics like “I still want you”, don’t hit as hard as they used to.
Nothing To Do strikes a great balance between old and new. Caleb continues to prove he is great at writing catchy hooks. The break neck speed of the track picks up the slack of the prior song.
M Television takes the band back to their 2016 album “WALLS”. Far more Pop than Indie. It’s got a great guitar line and Caleb’s “These are the ones you relive” tells the audience that the band’s goal was to return to what they are familiar with.
Hesitation Gen is more of the same from KOL. It’s an easy to listen to guitar track that doesn’t break from the typical formula. However, it features more lyrics about the album’s production from Caleb, with the line, “Lets take this thing apart, and put it back together”.
Ease Me On‘ takes a laid back approach to the fun nature of the album. More surfer rock than rock ‘n’ roll, stripped back percussion and Caleb’s droney voice guide the listener through a blossoming love story. It’s another song that’s been done better on albums like “Because of the Times” and “Come Around Sundown”.
Seen closes KOL’s trip down memory lane with an effective genre switch. The closer switches between light guitars to dark distorted riffs during the bridge. It’s muddled mix adds greatly to the conflicted story of connection the lyrics speak of.
“Always on my mind”
“Can We Please Have Fun” is a good album. It’s not got the same energy as “Only By the Night”, or fresh sound of “Youth and Young Manhood”. But it demonstrates that KOL are still capable of making good music over twenty years later.
I personally adore KOL’s early work and their previous album, but this album wasn’t able to capture the same emotions from me.
It’s well worth a listen if you are looking for an easy, summery album to tune out to.
Featured image credit: Acirusearena.com
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