ALBUM REVIEW: Kaiser Chiefs – Duck

8/10

ALBUM REVIEW: Kaiser Chiefs - Duck

Kaiser Chiefs are back with their 7th studio album Duck, a rather different album if you are used to their original works from Employment and Yours Truly Angry Mob. But if you have listened to their previous album Stay Together from 2016 this sound will reminisce with you as the band have continued with the theme of polished electro-pop. 

First track People Know How to Love One Another, is the real crowd-pleaser on the album, it can easily get you tapping along to the strong beat of the chorus and can see people clapping along to this at a live show. However, you do feel that maybe they ran out of ideas for words as the song’s title is repeated at least 25 times. Nevertheless, it is the first track and you can see why as it sets the tone for the whole album, Ricky’s voice is strong throughout and shines through with elements of the true vocals he does at live shows.

Golden Oldies was road-tested on the earlier 2019 tour and its still a firm favourite of mine and has hints of We Stay Together but with a more upbeat sound. It describes a couple’s relationship together in a rush with all the twist and turns they could have along the way “We can talk when we get home, Cause there are things I’d like to do before we get old…  Blue and pink on different sides, I can walk you down the aisle, Oh we’ll get married in a rush”. I feel that the band are trying to relate to the modern world through song and telling the story of a couple in a different way that some of the lyrics just whizz by you unless you really listen.

Wait is another upbeat song, It reminds of a swing set due to the jiving brass sections throughout the song that will certainly get you out of your seat and dancing. Wait produces a very new sound for the band that I feel has been strongly developed and easily shows the bands fun side, similar to the groove of George Ezra’s Paradise.

Record Collection has hints of both old and new Kaisers throughout with a strong drum beat, influential keys and fantastic vocals from Ricky Wilson. Record Collection repeats to the listener that your own record collection  provides you a release from the world around you and gives you that bit of peace in time to “Sit back and relapse into the world we build for you, where everything you need is on its way now, make yourself at home, my extraordinary friend, where everything is ok in the end.”

Yes, I feel that for many this is not traditional Kaiser Chiefs of the past but this album presents the Kaiser Chiefs of the present day. Music changes with times and they have truly shown that they can adapt to the changing music scene with their own style that has changed in its own way, yes Duck is something new but still has the underlying sound the traditional Kaiser Chiefs.

Duck it is the sound of one of the most successful British guitar bands of the millennium, reclaiming the creative swagger that underpins their greatest work. Standout tracks are People Know (How to Love One Another), Golden Oldies, Wait, and Record Collection.

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Helen Russell 25 Articles
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