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)

• “Ticats Are Hummin'” (2012 single)
• “Hand Me Downs” (2019 single)
• “The Last Christmas (We Ever Spend Apart)” / “Pub Crawl” (2021 single)
• Apple Music Home Session (2022 iTunes EP)

…and more to come