Kodaline - In A Perfect World

Hearing the opening lines to ‘One Day’ reminds you of the ‘Ice Age’, the great music that comes from that set of films, the songs that remind you of being you and alive, to have no care in the world for the future or the past, this is what ‘One Day’ brings to the listener as they begin to listen to the fantastic new album ‘In a Perfect World’ by Kodaline.

A theme that constantly is clear is naivety and that theme of being young, without listening to the lyrics properly this is what you get from the album. But when listening to the words you find a sense of heart break, brutal honesty throughout this perfect album. The mixture is like describing a person’s two emotions; that sense of wanting to be free, still having a childish and naïve side but also having responsibilities to deal with, such as losing someone you love, working hard, and wearing yourself down.

‘Love Like This’ brings a more upbeat side, where Kodaline draw on their Irish music descendants for inspiration, giving an Irish folk sound to the album. Stephen Garrigan’s voice is soft and delicate throughout other, more melancholy, songs but during ‘Love Like This’ he brings on a stronger vocal that the tune greatly benefits from. And the spoken  line ‘I don’t mind at all’ gives an obvious Irish feel, when Bob Geldof has used the spoken technique himself, on a line in one of his own songs that say ‘I don’t mind at all’. It’s great for Irish musicians to bring back the music we love them best for, the last band to do this were the Pogues and we’ve needed a happy-go-lucky Irish band to bring back that unique sound of Irish folk that the current generation has been missing out on.

The songs on the album delve in and out of upbeat and melancholy, the slower tracks have pure beauty in them, especially ‘All Comes Down’, which see’s Garrigan bring a heart-breaking vocal before the song is kicked in with a piano. But throughout Garrigan delivers the most haunting vocal you will have heard in a very long time, it tugs at the heart strings and can relate to anyone that has ever been heartbroken. The gospel choir during the outro blend in with the soft piano and twang on the acoustic guitar strings. It’s definitely a favourite from the album, for fans and listeners Kodaline have excelled themselves during ‘All Comes Down’.

An acoustic guitar is always appreciated on most songs, and Kodaline make this a feature on every one of their tracks. Mark Prendergrast plays like a dream, slipping listeners into a lullaby of perfect daydreams and taking us into a world where we’ve always wanted to be, it’s like being in heaven when listening to Pendergrast's fantastic rhythm. This is what truly makes the album as great as it is Pendergrast and Garrigan make a perfect couple along with other band members (Boland, and May), Kodaline have managed to put together the perfect band, each musician compliments the other in such a wonderful way to make the most happy, heart-breaking, and emotionally confusing album anyone will have heard in a long time. They will have you excited for their own future work, they will have you reminiscing about your childhood, they certainly have for fans. But not only that, they will have you remembering your own tragedies and losses, having you come to terms with what happened and being able to finally understand what you’re going through. Kodaline and their fantastic new album ‘In A Perfect World’ have brought a breath of fresh air to music.