It may be five years since their last album, Celebration Rock, and the world may have turned several somersaults of late, but Japandroids’ love of tasty power pop songs that suggest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ bar-room rock with a hefty dose of New Wave attitude remains a musical constant in these crazy times. That said, it would seem that in 2017, Brian King and David Prowse have got their sights firmly set on writing an anthem for the millennial generation, as Near to the Wild Heart of Life is awash with songs of wide-eyed exuberance, flavoured with big production values that occasionally hint at the Celtic rock flavours of early U2 and even Mumford and Sons’ recent rocky reinvention.
Near to the Wild Heart of Life’s title track emphatically sets out Japandroids’ stall with an adrenaline-fuelled kicker that displays more than a dash of Eddie and the Hot Rods’s 1977 hit “Do Anything You Wanna Do”. Images of motoring out of a small town and heading for the big city are writ large and a refrain of “I used to be good but now I’m bad” make it clear that King and Prowse won’t be back any time soon. “No Known Drink or Drug” and “True Love and a Free Life of Free Will” similarly echo a wanderlust that just knows that life is happening elsewhere and while the constant big chords and drums can get a little monotonous, Near to the Wild Heart of Life certainly displays a lack of cynicism that is refreshing.
Japandroids’ latest set may not demonstrate any great sonic shifts but the electronic flourishes that seep into “I’m Sorry (For Not Finding You Sooner)” and “Arc of Bar” imply that the Canadian duo are not short of new ideas but may lack the confidence to try something a bit more radical. Perhaps they’ll be brave enough to go the whole hog next time around.
