If much of the music that ends up being designated as “classic” seems to transcend the genre that it grew from, somehow taking on a wider appeal, a broader musicality, a less niche nature, then I would say that the music found on Glad Days could very well end up with such a label. The one thing that is out of your control is time, time to allow the music to marinade and percolate, time to ingratiate itself with not just the discerning music public but the mainstream masses too, but I would say that everything else required is in place, so let’s wait and see, shall we? It doesn’t hurt that the songwriting chops displayed here are pretty awesome, too. (Is this a best of… album? If you didn’t know any better you could be forgiven for thinking so.)
Kingdom of Mustang is expert at blending genres into new sounds—not radically new—that isn’t the point—but making music that is familiar enough yet fresh enough, and certainly fantastic enough to win the hearts and minds of the masses. With one foot firmly in the rock realm, it is the moves they do with the other that add the magic, deftly dancing through everything from new wave to country to indie to pop to create a sound that is truly their own.
If the opener, “More Than They Deserve,” is built on staccato riffs and driving energy, it is also soaked in lush harmonies and paisley-patterned, psychedelic power-pop vibes. This first taste shows you exactly how multilayered and mellifluous the music they make is.
The title track is wilfully lazy, louche, loose, and languid, and I mean all of that in the most positive of ways; as a result, it is relaxing to the point of being seductive. “Don’t Count Me Out” builds a bridge between sixties garage bands and the sophisticated pop-rock of The Cars and “Say Hey To Blue” sounds like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as they headed out of their early pure rock sound and experimented with more pop and new wave influences around the Southern Accents album.
Glad Days works because it allows itself enough freedom to explore a broad rock sound but pushes just far into enough neighboring genres to keep things exciting. However, Kingdom of Mustang understands just when to pull on the lease to stop things moving too far away from the uniting and cohesive rock glue that is always found at its heart.
