Loyalty to Loyalty

On their stunning and haunted second album, ? the Long Beach, Calif., quartet Cold War Kids, who had ”next big thing” pinned to their lapels after 2006’s jaunty Robbers &? Cowards, have ratcheted up their faux-mono production values and woozy chops. Matt Aveiro’s drums sound like they’re being thrown ? down the stairs on ”Against Privacy,” while Jonnie Russell’s guitars drunkenly lurch and rumble on ”Mexican Dogs.” What makes it all cohere so beautifully on Loyalty to Loyalty is the songwriting, which is as sharp as the sound is blurry; ? Nathan Willett reels off loopy-literate one-liners like Morrissey on an absinthe bender. A?
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