My record collection
As far as I’m concerned, Kaiser Chiefs have already cemented their place as one of the best UK rock outfits of this century. They put out a couple of major songs (again, in my opinion), including subtle yet powerful tracks like “I predict a riot” and my personal favorite, “The angry mob”. That last song’s ending echoes that of “Hey Jude” or Queen’s “The Miracle” as in it introduces a wonderfully harmonious sing-along melody as the music is about to end. Beautifully executed, perhaps even anthemic. Especially in the days that we live in.
And none of that is even their most famous work: that would arguably be “Ruby”, a very nice song in all respects, catchy as hell, which made #1 in the UK — the greatest sort of commercial accolade any musician can dream of (it is still somewhat of a mystery to me how that is, but this island’s taste in music remains quite simply unparalleled). Interestingly, all the songs I talked about in here so far hail from Kaiser Chiefs’ first 2 albums. And they released their seventh this year. Which may mean a couple of things:
a) my finger on the pulse of contemporary music may be a little arthritic;
b) they may have had a bit of a hard time replicating the artistic and commercial success of their earlier work;
c) they were just waiting for the right moment to hit it big again. And that moment may be now.
Kaiser Chiefs, “Record collection”, Duck, 2019.
You may or may not appreciate my subtle buildup, but here it is: I kind of love “Record collection”, the first single from Kaiser Chief’s latest album, Duck (they already released a second one, “People know how to love one another”, which is arguably less memorable). It’s a perfectly efficient little indie rock tune with the right amount of electro production feel to it, offering a breath of fresh (rocky) air that in itself is very welcome in these strange times we live in.
But what really takes me in this song is one particular chord: the seventh and second to last in the chorus (first heard at 1’18’’ in the video). It’s nothing crazy, we’ve heard it elsewhere many times before, but it comes at a perfect time in the melodic structure of the song, sort of offering a renewed promise of lighter, better things to come. It’s harder to explain than to experience, but it is after all what good (great?) music does to you: make you feel things you can’t quite put into words.
In other words, Kaiser Chiefs are back, and I predict a riot from the happy mob.