Rock music, when done well, can be every bit as infectious as pop music and every bit as cool as its indie sibling. This is precisely what I am reminded of as “Don’t Wanna Fall” ushers Cold Shoulders’s new album into earshot. Not only does this opening salvo blend and blur sonic boundaries, as all great music must, but throughout the album, the band often does so in a way reminiscent of iconic artists such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and I don’t think that you can ask for a better accolade than that.
And if songs such as “No More Honey” indeed lean into that blend of rock-Americana-new wave swagger that few did better than the man who would also take the name Charlie T Wilbury Jr. there are plenty of other tracks that prove Cold Shoulders have more than enough of their own sonic identity.
“When the Time Is Right” is full of Byrdsian jangle and shimmering power pop moves, “Through My Arms” lights a rock ‘n’ roll fire under a pop sound, blending the anthemic with the accessible, the cinematic with the catchy, and “Neon Lights” feels like it is a long lost soundtrack to an eighties blockbuster movie…possibly involving Tom Cruise or Kevin Bacon and airplanes or racing cars or towns that have banned music…or all of the above.
Cold Shoulders remind us that rock music, or more properly rock and roll, can, and indeed should, be groovesome, infectious, boogie-inducing, and full of hooks. And this album has more hooks than a Peter Pan convention.
