jamming: cold war kids- loyalty to loyalty

This is a solid follow-up to Robbers & Cowards. Whiny at times, but generally both interesting and at times either poignant or funny. The guitar sounds are grungy, with a consistent blues-crunch. There's jangly piano and rolling baselines, nothing incredible innovative for them, but a definite niche on the indie scene.

The opener is a stand-out with lines like:
"We don't gamble
we don't do the stock exchange
we paint paintings
we write scenes for the stage

we will talk about welfare
we will talk about sex
talk about the golden Prada shoes
no body gets gets upset"

"Mexican Dogs" laments that, like Mexican dogs, nobody gave them names. The only thing "Something is Not Right With Me" lacks is a silhouetted dancer with an iPod. "Welcome to the Occupation" channels Muse's "Absolution" to discuss raising kids and "Golden Gate Jumpers" narrates a brief encounter with a young lady entertaining the idea of jumping to her death. I'm not sure in that situation my line of questioning would include, "Ma'am, how was your day?" "Every Man I Fall For" oddly takes the an opposing gender POV (Nathan Willett is a heterosexual) to tell the story in a different way. "I've Seen Enough" might be the strongest track on the entire disc, save "DREAMS OLD MEN DREAM."

Thought I was laying in the gutter in
Milk cartons and bones
But I was standing on a mountaintop
Looking over your homes
Thought I was laying in my garden with
My hands deep in soil
But I was there on an island
Shooting flares at you both
Thought I was soothing like a violin
Confessing new rain
But I was piping like a trumpet
Frantic but faint
Thought I was built like a building’s built
On concrete and stone
I realized I’m just a hack actor
Finished playing my role

You're reading my thoughts
Dreams old men dreams
It's just like when we were kids
We’d lay around wondering
We try to listen to what they said

Thought I was writing for a hundred hours
Looking straight into me
But I was reading on the newspaper obituary
Thought I was nervous like mailman
Reading your letters dear
But I was at our anniversary
Toasting thirty years

Push my piano outside
I don't care
Meet the media black sky
I don't care
The neighbors will complain
Let them stare
Who knows where the time goes
I don't care

What would you think of me if I told you
I haven't slept in weeks
I've been up chasing my childhood with a pen
These are dreams old men dream


CWK certainly move forward on this sophomore release.

BUY on the NPR scale.

1	Against Privacy
2	Mexican Dogs
3	Every Valley Is Not a Lake
4	Something Is Not Right with Me
5	Welcome to the Occupation
6	Golden Gate Jumpers
7	Avalanche in B
8	I've Seen Enough
9	Every Man I Fall For
10	Dreams Old Men Dream
11	On the Night My Love Broke Through
12	Relief
13	Cryptomnesia