{"id":41712,"date":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/wild-young-hearts\/"},"modified":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-30T00:00:00","slug":"wild-young-hearts","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/wild-young-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Young Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is 11:10 in the evening and I have work at 7:00 AM. I am awake, too excited to fall asleep. Is it the two cups of coffee I drank? No. It is the sounds of British sensation the Noisettes\u2019 Wild Young Hearts <\/i>flowing through my head.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I first heard the Noisettes on their debut What\u2019s The Time Mr. Wolf?, <\/i>an ambitious indie-rock\u00a0 album that showed great potential. Wild Young Hearts <\/i>matches that potential and beyond.\u00a0 Arming themselves with a team of co-writers, string arrangers, studio musicians, and the like, the Noisettes seem to be the only band around willing to take a chance on big, Motown-style production and epic melodies. And it sure pays off.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start at the beginning. The album hits with the title-track, a crazy mix of The Clash and Rogers & Hammerstein. Or maybe you can imagine The Sex Pistols playing \u201cEdelweiss.\u201d <\/i>Following \u201cWild Young Hearts\u201d is \u201cDon\u2019t Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go),\u201d a techno-pop-punk number with killer harmonies and a surprisingly fitting Donna Summer-style string arrangement. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cNever Forget You\u201d has become a hit single in the US due to its groovy bass-line, soulful melody, and theatrical arrangement. This track celebrates the reuniting of long-lost friends, and rarely have I seen such a perfect combination of music and lyrics. When singer Shingai Shoniwa belts out \u201cI\u2019m sorry I\u2019m a little late \/ You know the stripes on a tiger are hard to change,\u201d I understand the sentiment. It\u2019s like saying, \u201cI know I\u2019m not perfect, old chap, but you love me anyway.\u201d To the contrary, \u201cSaturday Night\u201d tackles the animosity of friends turned enemies. Complete with a dance-inspiring drum\/percussion break, \u201cSaturday Night\u201d showcases the ferocity of drummer Jamie Morrison\u2019s playing. Much like Ringo did for The Beatles, Morrison provides the perfect percussive complement to such gorgeous melodies.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAtticus\u201d is an exegesis on Harper Lee\u2019s famous novel To Kill A Mockingbird.<\/i> Rather than try to explain the Noisettes\u2019 interpretation of the novel, I will let you explore that yourself. Nonetheless, this acoustic guitar ballad lets the listener experience the joy and beauty of Daniel Smith\u2019s guitar playing. In a musical time full of tricks and effects, Smith\u2019s engaging, intimate playing is a breath of fresh air.\u00a0 Meanwhile, \u201cEvery Now And Then\u201d has a melody and arrangement reminiscent of the early 20th<\/sup> century jazz vocal standards. Been listening to Gershwin lately, Noisettes?<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201c24 Hours\u201d again contains a perfect marriage of words and melody. This tale of short-lived romance launches into a full-fledged existential dilemma. \u201cHow blue it can seem when life is not what it should be,\u201d sings Shoniwa amid a musical backdrop of innocence and sincerity. In \u201cBeat Of My Heart,\u201d the Noisettes toy with youthful playfulness, memorable synth motifs, and a gravity-defying guitar solo. Following this, the ballad \u201cSometimes\u201d brings us back to deep, unanswerable existential dilemmas: \u201cAre we looking for the ones we hurt \/ Just to forgive us in the future?\u201d<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As one might expect, Wild Young Hearts <\/i>ends with the best song on the album: \u201cCheap Kicks.\u201d With a (once again) captivating melody, a perfectly orchestrated arrangement, a bold interlude, and a wonderfully lingering ending, \u201cCheap Kicks\u201d offers the listener a comprehensive, full throttle experience. On top of this, Shoniwa\u2019s lyrics sound like William Butler Yeats became female and joined a rock band. \u201cSo now loathe me, goin\u2019 to the dark side \/ And I\u2019m in somebody\u2019s arms to keep you off my mind\u201d hit me like a semi-truck. It has been awhile since a rock song has brought me to tears. Shoniwa is quickly rising as one of my favorite lyricists (imagine: Paul Simon, Bernie Taupin, Bob Dylan, and Shingai Shoniwa).<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If you buy one new album this year, buy Wild Young Hearts. <\/i>It is a penetrating, comprehensive piece of art that will stand out as a masterpiece in your collection. Like any great art, the album could \u2013 and should \u2013 be explored in depth. The lyrics are multifaceted and ripe with metaphor, esoteric references, and symbolism. Jim Abiss\u2019s production is tastefully layered and complex, reminding me of the production on Ray Charles\u2019s Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music. <\/i>The string arrangements give a poignant example of melody complementation, and the songwriting is stellar. In addition, Shoniwa\u2019s vocal abilities and phrasing are as brilliant as those of Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. And for those who wish not dissect every aspect of this phenomenal album, it is a great impetus to recapturing your own Wild Young Heart. <\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":30076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8466],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41712","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-noisettes","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41712"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41712"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}