Title: In Rolling Waves

Artist: The Naked and Famous

Genre: Alternative

Release Date: September 17, 2013

Studio Album No.: 2

Record Label: Universal Music Group

Review

A friend introduced me to this band when this album released a few weeks ago and I realized that I had already fallen in love with their single, “Hearts Like Ours.” It didn’t take much for me to listen to the rest of their album.

I’ve listened to it several times now and my immediate reaction is that I like it. It’s very synth-heavy and moody, but it flows very well. Most of their song are very slow-moving and lengthy. They build and release gently with 5 going over the 5-minute mark. I did find that by the halfway point I wanted more of their songs to be a little bit shorter. It wasn’t that big of a deal though.

With twelve tracks it was hard to come up with my top 3 favorites, but here they are:

“The Mess” tops the list at number one. It was a heart-wretching duet between Alisa Xayalith and Thom Powers. I felt tears fill in my eyes as I listen to this track about the ending of a relationship. The chorus, “How does it feel to be on the fault line? And how do we heal when we’re on the decline?”, just tore my poor heart to shreds. I felt the pain in every line.

“Hearts Like Ours” sits at number two on my list. It’s a bit more upbeat than the other songs on the album and was the single they released. I find my head nodding every time it comes on.

“Rolling Waves” rounds off the list at number three. I liked that fact that it builds and crashes like a rolling wave. I would have to say it is very rock-ish out of all their songs.

Rating: 9/10

Later Gators,