Saturday, March 07, 2009

Kings, Only By The Night

It's 12:51 AM. It's late and you're sitting on the curb of some rundown street. There is a man with weary eyes telling you his life story. He tells you this is the first time he will ever tell the truth. He feels like telling you the truth because really, its just after midnight, time is a sense, it feels like forever, and you and the rest of the waking world are invincible. He offers you episodes of his past between long drawn sighs and metaphorical nonsense. He apologizes for being incoherent and cliche, but to you, he makes perfect sense. You do not question and you listen totally entranced. His protest against mortality, his longing to matter, his frustration with wanting to be found, his despair to live --- you've all heard it all before, but it is his. He says he doesn't know and he wants to be. You offer no apologies nor consolation. Instead, you can only nod and smile. Hours later, the warm sun reveals itself against the backdrop of concrete giants, silently declaring that today is a promise.

This is how Only By The Night, Kings of Leon's new CD feels like. It's always like this with them. It never feels like being handed a loaded gun --- okay, a very menacing hammer ---- after each storytelling session to put the cd player out of its misery. (Because that's what I totally felt like doing after listening to all of The Script's cliche's. But that's another entry.)

OBTN is a wonder. It's melancholic and euphoric, impatient and steady. And as always, Caleb is helluva sexy.

If there was only one album you could listen to on loop for the rest of the year --- and arguably the remainder of your quarter-life existence --- this definitely has to be it. I totally would.

No comments: