King claims Vancouver, although things have gotten slightly more complicated as the band has tacked between Toronto, New Orleans, and Mexico City, taking a three-year hiatus of touring beginning in 2013. King still writes about drinking, about girls, about the love-hate relationship between himself and the idea of a hometown. This is a band whose second album is literally titled Celebration Rock, but this song’s version of a lyrical clincher-“I used to be good but now I’m bad”-clunks off the ear like a tennis ball against a wall.įor the most part, Near to the Wild Heart of Life sticks to the Japandroids M.O. The grit on King’s voice is gone the guitar is too cleanly mixed the drums don’t hit as hard. “Near to the Wild Heart of Life” is too perfect.
Which is why the advance single to their latest record “ Near to the Wild Heart of Life” is so disappointing.
As a lyricist, King takes you to that precipice, invites you to look over, even gives you the smallest nudge-and then he catches you. They teeter forever on a precipice separating transcendence from pure cheese-one of their best songs turns on the cathartic refrain “I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls”-but it’s sold with life-changing intensity. Likewise, the best Japandroids songs are always threatening to topple over singer/guitarist Brian King struggles to reach his highest notes, and drummer David Prowse pounds the drums frantically, like they might be running away from him.
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