Japandroids: Near to the Wild Heart of Life ALBUM REVIEW

Japandroids are the kind of band that I should really love. They are a duo, guitar and drums, who exude the kind of confidence in their music that makes rock music great. They seem to be so sure that what they're saying in their music could be life-changing to someone, and they try to write songs to fit that confidence. But in my opinion, while the lyrics are quite uplifting, the music has often been mired in blandness, with lots of tinny production and predictable chord progressions. That's the main reason why I haven't enjoyed this band throughout the years, especially their last LP Celebration Rock, which had the stand-out "House That Heaven Built", but nearly every other track ranged from forgettable to ear-grating. And while I don't think that Near to the Wild Heart of Life fixes every issue I've had with Japandroids, I can say with some confidence that it does contain more enjoyable moments than its predecessor.

In fact, the first two tracks get things started properly, with the title track bringing perhaps the most fist-pumping triumphant track the band has ever recorded; the track seems to focus on the need for us to break away from our day to day grinds and just go out and experience nature and actually being alive. This kind of message really hits home for me, and the track musically reminds me a lot of Bruce Springsteen in the way he writes songs with this kind of energetic feeling. "North East South West" continues this vibe, and the closer, the fantastic "In A Body Like A Grave" brings another message of overcoming the grind of life to aspire to something more than mundane.

But my love of the album stops with those three tracks, as the other moments here feel too familiar to what they've done before or are just flat-out bad. The prime example of a bad song is "I'm Sorry" which is mired in reverb and the tinny-est sounding guitar distortion that I've heard in a long time. Then there's the promising but ultimately tedious "Arc of Bar" which has a pretty decent story running through it, but it is instrumentally stale. The other tracks are just 'okay' in my opinion and failed to make an impression, save for "True Love" which features some pretty cheesy lines here and there.

So yeah, Japandroids aren't exatly winning me over with this record, but again, there are more stand-outs than Celebration Rock, but aside from those tracks, this album is such a bore to me. But still, give it a try, you may like it more than I did.

6.0/10