Review: Cold War Kids - 'Mine Is Yours'

Mine Is Yours, out today on Downtown Records.

as seen in the Daily Nebraskan
Cold War Kids has released their most pop-sounding album yet with "Mine Is Yours," out today on Downtown Records.

And I say ‘most pop-sounding' with no meaning of flattery.

The band seems to have put down their eccentricity for that polished studio sound with their third album, alluding to the modern rock of Kings of Leon and the like.

The problem is they fall short of fulfilling this modern rock sound by a few too many cliché choruses.

"Mine Is Yours" might not be so bad for a new Cold War Kids listener, but if you're aware of the originality of their previous album efforts, namely their 2006 debut "Robbers & Cowards," you have to wonder what the hell happened. 


Upon hearing the opening title track "Mine Is Yours," I thought, "This isn't the Cold War Kids that I know." With the track beginning on a 20-second sequence of "oh's," I wondered when the band who once embraced blues and jazz got so cheesy.

Throughout the 11 tracks of the album, lead singer Nathan Willett's all-too-inflecting voice is paired with conventional chord progressions. A true shame, as Willett's vocals are perhaps the only prevailing facet of "Mine Is Yours."

Even then, I have to criticize. I enjoyed the breathless and unrefined vocals exhibited in "Robbers & Cowards." Willett doesn't need to go sultry with "Mine Is Yours," but he does.

A sad majority of the tracks remain bland and predictable, the only exception being "Cold Toes on the Cold Floor," a reminder of the raw rock the band used to belt out. And the direction clearly avoided with "Mine Is Yours."

The new LP is much less percussive and less instrumental, consequently boring.

It's naïve to think a band will sound the same from album to album, but I have to wonder where that signature Cold War Kids creativity went. "Mine Is Yours" just made me want to throw on "Robbers & Cowards."