Blink Once

REVIEW: Arkells – Blink Twice (2022)

ARKELLS – Blink Twice (2022 Universal)

Blink Once was a surprising pleasure.  Given how far the Arkells have sailed through the seas of rock, pop and blues, they seemed to be content circling ’round various genres of pop now.  Experimenting with hip-hop vibes, soulful backing vocals, dance beats and loops, the Arkells still managed to keep catchy guitar hooks as part of the mix thanks to Mike DeAngelis.  The bass thump of Nick Dika is still there, while Tim Oxford refuses to play anything simple on the drums.  Max Kerman’s lyrics still bite, but Anthony Carone’s keyboards now make up a large share of the hooks.  It’s still rock, but definitely far removed from their first track on their first album.  Blink Twice is largely composed of short songs, none reaching four minutes, and over half featuring guest performers from the world of pop.

Blink Twice opens seamlessly, exactly where Blink Once left off:  “Last Night I Heard ‘Em Sing” closed the former, a brief snippet of the latter’s opener “Reckoning”.

“Blink twice!” announces Max.  “There’s gonna be a reckoning!”

Strings, horns and thick backing vocals adorn this soulful rock song.  An instant classic.  Though far more vague than past political songs, it’s clear that Max is taking shots at the upper crust.  “It’s a drop drop in the bucket for you, becomes a knock knock on your ocean view.”

Though Max warns of a reckoning, track two brings this back home to more personal topics.  “Past Life” is a duet with Nathan Willett of California’s Cold War Kids, a band I’ve never heard of before.  The two work well together with distinctly different voices and styles, singing the same melody.  Mike DeAngelis provides a nice thick guitar hook that the song orbits, but this is upper echelon pop rock. One lyric that sticks out is when Nathan sings “Feel like Bob Dylan’s son, always in the shadows.”  Elsewhere,  Max proclaims “I’m a little Wallflower, singing ‘One Headlight’.”  Jakob Dylan did deserve stardom, but the line “I’ve gotta find my own way to write a song,” seems misplaced.  The Arkells sound like they’ve mastered that already.

“Take Back Everything” has an older-school Arkells sound.  This brings us back to the Morning Report days, perhaps the band’s finest hour.  It’s important to listen to all the instruments and hear what each member of the band brings to the table.  From day one, the bass has provided interesting textures and it’s still doing that here, while Mike DeAngelis explores his fretboard for new melodic compliments.

Hip-hop rears its head a lil’, on “Human Being”, a duet with Canadian electronica star Lights.  Her vocals are sublime, but the chorus of “I’m just a fuckin’ human being,” doesn’t quite hit the spot.  The song has its moments, including a catchy keyboard melody by Anthony Carone.  It’s a shorty, over in just 2:34.  We know the Arkells love Drake and that whole genre, but if I am going to have rap in my musical diet, “Human Being” isn’t so bad.

For duets, the high point of this album is the ballad “Teenage Tears” featuring Tegan and Sara.  Not a duo I have heard before, but of course every Canadian knows who Tegan and Sara are.  The twins sing as one here on a delicate ballad that boils tension and exhaustion together into a nourishing audio broth.  Too much metaphor?  Well you describe it, then. All I can tell you is that “Teenage Tears” is a classic; it hits you fast and doesn’t let go. You feel its familiar warmth immediately.  It’s a “greatest hit” if you ever wanna compile one.  The haunting music video is filmed in an empty mall, which certainly reminds of the pandemic days.

“Miracle” marks the midpoint of the album and the last song on side one.  It blends the bluesy bent of their early albums with modern production.  There’s guitar crunch but also the loopy melodic plinky bits that are popular in music today.  Pretty good song, but it ends abruptly, and is surrounded by superior material.

“Nowhere to Go” crashes the party, opening side two with an upbeat pop rocker like the Arkells are prone to do.  Wesley Schultz is the singer from the Lumineers dueting with Max, and their voices just add a little texture and variety to a song that otherwise might have got lost in the shuffle of similar bangers.  However, the sax solo by Jake Clemons is a jumper!  Nephew of Clarence, and member of the E-Street Band today, you know what you are in for.  Just hit the “back” button a little bit and play that sax solo one more time!  It has the exact same energy as classic Springsteen.

The biggest left turn is “Dance With You”, a pure disco song with lots of guests.  American pop duo Aly and AJ provide the backing vocals.  Surprisingly, the song is bilingual:  half in French!  Max sings in both English and French, while Québecois crooner Cœur de Pirate (Béatrice Martin) provides a breathy French counterpart.  Her vocals stand out for being so different.  By all means, give it a listen.  The Arkells have never been afraid of taking a step too far, and for some this may be it, while others may joyfully embrace every beat.   La plus grande surprise s’agit de “Dance With You”, une chanson disco pure avec de nombreux invités. Le duo pop américain Aly et AJ assurent les chœurs. Étonnamment, la chanson est bilingue: la moitié est en français! Max chante en anglais et en français, tandis que la crooner Québecoise Cœur de Pirate (Béatrice Martin) fournit un homologue français époustouflant. Sa voix se distingue par sa différence. Bien sûr, écoutez-le. Les Arkells n’ont jamais eu peur d’aller trop loin, et pour certains c’est peut-être le cas, tandis que d’autres peuvent embrasser avec joie chaque battement.*

There is even a dance remix called “Danser avec toi” available on an iTunes single, with more lyrics in French and more instrumental grooves.

“Running Scared” is another ballad, but completely different from “Teenage Tears”.  Laid back sax and an easy tempo render a song for the night time.  It’s immediately followed by an upbeat pop rocker:  “Something’s Gotta Give” featuring Joel Plasket.  As we race towards the close, this catchy singalong serves as one last blast-off before we face the end.  “Blink once!” announces Joel.  “Then I black out!  Blink twice, ’til we cash out.”  It’s just a party tune.  But something’s gotta give…

“Lost my guitar, lost my keys, lost my favourite pair of jeans…”  The finale “Floating Like” is about all those things that bring us down…but then that upbeat soul chorus hits and it’s like, “who cares!”  There’s a cool “These Eyes” kind of vibe coming from the piano, but the chorus is pure soul.  Sunshine and breezy days in the form of song.  “Now I’m feeling weightless, like I’m gonna make it!” says Max.  This is a song to help get you there.

Blink Twice is another triumph.  Completing the Blink duology with an album full of duets seemed uneven considering the first album only had one.  Instead, both albums do sound cohesive when played together, but the duets on Blink Twice seem to allow the album to build towards something.  Towards a conclusion.  A hopeful conclusion.  After the pandemic weighed so heavily on us all, music was (and still is) a reflection on what we endured.  Blink Once and Twice might be played together as a soundtrack from those days.  While both albums are strong, diverse, pop-centric and experimental, Blink Twice is the climax.

4/5 stars

* Thank you Jex Russell for translation!

 

ARKELLS

  1. Jackson Square (2008)
  2. Michigan Left (2011)
  3. High Noon (2014)
  4. Morning Report (2017)
  5. Rally Cry (2018)
  6. Campfire Chords (2020)
  7. Blink Once (2021)
  8. Blink Twice (2022)
  9. Laundry Pile (2023)

…and more to come

REVIEW: Arkells – Blink Once (2021)

“Blink Once is about resilience. It’s about grieving with loss and fall outs and finding your way back. The making of the album began before the pandemic, but the material seems to hit harder after everything we’ve been through over the past 18 months. These songs are about finding comfort in your family, community and music.” – Arkells

 

ARKELLS – Blink Once (2021 Universal)

Blink Once is the album on which you can definitively say the Arkells transitioned from a rock band to a pop band.  Historically this is the kind of move that earned my wrath, but I’m a lot more chill about it now.  Opening your ears to new kinds of music can’t hurt you, and you may in fact find that you like what your eardrums are beating into you.  When you already love the singer, the drummer, and the other musicians, it’s a lot easier to make that leap.

And Max Kerman is one hell of a singer.

Rather than review in track order, I thought I’d start with what I think is the best song and the clear highlight of Blink Once.  The single “All Roads” is stunning.  Just have a look at its music video, shot by drone over a local landmark:  the Devil’s Punchbowl in Hamilton Ontario.  The band members all make appearances as the drone flies overhead and then zooms down for their closeups.  It’s a remarkable video fitting a very special song.  (I forgive Max Kerman for being in his shorts-and-gym-socks phase.)

You couldn’t name a price,
You couldn’t buy me off,
Don’t need to read my mind,
There’s only one thing that I want,
All roads will lead me to back you.

Don’t let the opening bloops and blips of programmed music fool you.  Once the guitars kick in, the song takes off just like the drone in the video.  Soaring through the clouds on muscular wings of melody, “All Roads” is nothing short of a masterpiece.  “All Roads” sounds like a #1 pop hit from 1988, with the production values of today.  Those “huh!” backing vocals are absolutely from the 80s.  It’s cinematic, as if it came from one of the great romance movies of the decade.   This song is huge and impossible to forget.

Incidentally, I like the production on the lead vocals.  It’s as if you can hear the room that Max is singing in, instead of being uber-bright and clean.

Fortunately, the album is stacked with memorable material.  The opener “Liberation” boasts catchy verses over programmed beats and synths, but then breaks into a chorus that sounds Caribbean in original.  After this, a massive drum beat maintains a tenuous link with rock music.

One of the big singles was “You Can Get It” with American Doc-boot-stompin’ singer and rapper K.Flay (Kristine Flaherty).  She has an interesting breathy style, but this is the song that requires the biggest listener adjustment.  The horn section helps, as does the entertaining “Wheel of Fortune” music video.  Really, it’s all about the horn section.  Live, I’m sure that “I don’t give a fuck, tell me what you want, you can get it!” part is fun to sing along to.  On album, it’s all the horns!

One of my complaints about the prior album Rally Cry was that didn’t have any truly sad tear jerkers, emotional songs that just make you break down.  Blink Once returns to that territory with “Strong”.  This is a song I can relate to — staying strong for members of your family.  “Here’s the rules:  stay strong for me, and I’ll stay strong for you.”  Most poignantly, as I remember the summer of 2018 (that summer that never was):  “Summer is here but it’s sleeping away, why would we want to miss a good day?”  Chills, tears, you name it:  they’re all here.

A short acoustic interlude of “Liberation” called “Little Moments” makes you wish for a full-on acoustic version.  This transitions to a necessary party song called “One Thing I Know”.  A good time piano bopper with samples and loops, like many Arkells songs, the chorus is as big as the sky is wide.  A more beat-driven song called “Truce” follows, with slinky horns again delivering the hooks.  The lyrics are as relatable as always:  “We both say that we fucked up, can we call a truce?”

One of the more interesting songs is “Nobody Gets Me Like You Do”, which seems to relate lyrically to other songs.  The line “I’ll follow you down any road” recalls “All roads will lead be back to you”.  The words “But you’d tell me straight if I fucked up,” bring us back to the previous song.  Most importantly, it’s another melodic summer champion, gliding on mighty wings of pop music.  The saxophone solo is right out of 1985.  You can almost visualise the sunglasses, colourful tee-shirts under white suits, and deck shoes (no socks).  Another album highlight.

“Swing Swing Swing” is one of the only album mis-steps.  It starts with what sounds like studio outtake chatter:  “OK I wanna try to do one of these kinds of songs where people are like, happy and dancing, but everyone’s like really fuckin’ sad when they listen to the lyrics.”  That they accomplished, with the line “a long winter learning how to be alone again” giving you an idea.  Musically it’s another horn-driven R&B style pop song, but not one of their best.  The awkward reference to the Beatles’ “Let It Be” seems forced in an attempt to seem cool.

Fortunately, “No Regrets” puts the album back on track.  A dance beat is accompanied by synth and, yes indeed, more unforgettable Arkells melodies.  The chorus is huge, and just enough to remind you that this album has some great pop songs on it.  Brilliant disco-like strings add to the whole and bring it up to another level.

“Years In the Making” was previously heard on 2020’s Campfire Chords, the acoustic “lockdown” album.  Here is it fully dressed with horns and programming.  The acoustic version might the superior one for purists but there is little wrong with the Blink Once recording.  The choice is yours.

Another brief interlude called “What the Feeling Was Like” talks of hardships, but the closing song “Arm In Arm” is all about overcoming them.  “Not gonna lie I’ve been fucked up.  Not gonna lie it’s been a long year,” sings Max.  And indeed, 2020 was a little fucked up, and it was a numbingly long year.  The music is bright, with those necessary “woah-oh-oh” Arkells backing vocals.  It feels like triumph.

That’s not the actual closer:  An outro sample of a string section from “Reckoning” alludes to the next album, when Max says “Blink Twice…”  Truly, it’s a two-album set, but we’ll get there next time.

If you’re into iTunes, check out a completely different version of “All Roads” called the “Night Drive” version.  They even made a music video for it.  It’s not a remix, but a completely different recording.  A completely different mood.  It doesn’t have the impact of the original, but it is a very cool supplemental.

Blink Once seems split between three directions:  Extremely upbeat happy pop songs, kinda corny and semi-successful R&B forays, and a really sad ballad.  At times it feels like these directions don’t mesh.  It was a weird time.  We needed upbeat music like this at that time.  We were all dealing with a lot of shit.  This is an album to pick you up on a bad day.  Mostly, anyway.

4/5 stars

 

ARKELLS

  1. Jackson Square (2008)
  2. Michigan Left (2011)
  3. High Noon (2014)
  4. Morning Report (2017)
  5. Rally Cry (2018)
  6. Campfire Chords (2020)
  7. Blink Once (2021)
  8. Blink Twice (2022)
  9. Laundry Pile (2023)

…and more to come