Album Review: Alvarez Kings Debut “Somewhere Between”
Led by brothers Simon and Paul Thompson, the South Yorkshire quartet have been busting out alt-pop gems and touring like crazy in the past few years, going on the road with PVRIS, Echosmith, Melanie Martinez, and more. Like Knox Hamilton and Colony House, the Alvarez Kings fuse electro-pop waves with splashes of folk instrumentals/ themes are the new music development, or, at least, they feel as such. Being a genre that matches the synthetic era of sound that we live in and connects it to lyrics of humanity is emblematic of Millennials. Our generation is a bridge between the timelessness of being human and the current, constant technological fads of being human NOW. Hence, Alvarez Kings’ debut, Somewhere Between, feels quite befitting for our time.
Alvarez Kings – Fear to Feel (Official)
The digital age is a fast one with each minute, seemingly, bringing a new “thing” or machine to turn on and tune out. It is in this that Thompson brothers find their musical “challenge” to sonically/ spiritually analyze how we, as human beings, repair, redeem, and refresh our souls to “turn on”. If only our hearts were MacBooks, we could just press a button. Yet, the lyrical dilemmas of the Thompsons’, in tracks “Cold Conscience”, “Picking Up The Pieces”, and “Fear To Feel” represent the struggling will to feel “on” and “in” our own lives. Now this is not a new musical theme, but the Thompsons’ tracks wonderfully clash with their darker undertones through brighter tempos. Songs such as “No Resolve” and “Tortured” feel like anything but such negativity. These songs are, probably, the “darkest” tracks because for, the most part, the Alvarez Kings approach the challenge to feel “bigger” than who you are from a more positive perspective and a resounding 80’s influence.
Alvarez Kings – Cold Conscience [Official Lyric Video]
The twinkling guitar arrangements and smokey, 80’s chords really brought out the vocals and lyrics of the Thompsons brothers, who have a light smoke to their own voice. That gentle rasp plays into their search for transparency both around and within themselves. In songs “Run From You” and “Postcards”, you wonder if you are running through an 80’s romantic film or an etch-a-sketch of a home. Both are my favorites songs and really capture the Alvarez Kings ability to set up the quick pacing and clouded synths of this era and bring it to a modern forefront through lyrics that promote perseverance. Whether for yourself or someone else, you get the feeling that this band is about acknowledging what is wrong but never discounting what is right, like in “Otherside”, which is what positivity is. Moreover, using the 80’s as a music influence is not by chance. This era was all about excess, and, in some ways, the digital age has the same mantra, even if it is an excess of data and information. The point is whether you play into that excess because, for the Alvarez Kings, feeling “big” about or in your life never materialize unless it spiritualizes. For More Information On The Alvarez Kings And To Buy Their Album on April 14 Click Here.
Alvarez Kings – Sleepwalking, Pt. II [Official Music Video]
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