Arkells - Rally Cry (October 19, 2018)

Coming off of their successful 2016 album Morning Report, their upcoming Rally Cry is filled with an urgent, vibrant energy and features the single "People's Champ."

 

I’m behind this, but with less enthusiasm than before. These guys are great people and entertainers but they’ve gone from classic pop rock conoisseurs to a piano-heavy party band, and I just don’t enjoy them as much as I used to. Hope this album blows them up even more though, they deserve it.

 

Yeah the two singles since Morning Report haven't done much for me. Was listening to High Noon and Michigan Left today and those songs are just so strong. The new stuff is cool but nothing to reel me back in. Wonder how the rest of the album will compare.

 

High Noon and Michigan Left are both incredible albums. Recent singles like Knocking At The Door and People’s Champ just sound like bombast for its own sake.

 

This thread got me on an Arkells kick and Come Back Home has me feeling some kind of way on this rainy Monday.

 

let's do this

 

So Relentless... growing on me after a few listens (took me a few weeks to get into People's Champ). I think it is good for what it is, but anyone else get the vibe with this, Knockin' and People's, they are trying to purposely write a song that will get played in sport stadiums/broadcasts? I hope they break in the US and get some spins down here, but not my favorites.

I feel like their best work is when they aren't writing for the stadium, but rather for a jam in the backyard with friends. Songs like Cynical Bastards, Never Thought, Drake's Dad, A Little Rain are my favorite recent jams and on first listen don't have that "stadium rock" feel. I believe the High Noon producer was behind Rally Cry and they tweeted out this morning "don't worry 11:11 2.0 is coming" so maybe we'll get some more High Noonish tunes.

With all that said the story of the song is pretty neat. Max's dad recommended the African sample, and name/chorus come from a convo with the Hip.

 

Relentless is a solid track

 

Ah man, Jackson Square is an all-time favourite and I love Michigan Left and about half of High Noon, but between this and the last two singles, I think I am well and truly done with this band's new music.

I love that their audience keeps getting bigger and I think these guys deserve the success but I'm just not a fan of this more bombastic pop-rock sound they've been trending towards for a while now. Oh well!

Definitely still wanna catch them live again soon because they put on a shoooooow even if I don't love the setlist.
(Coincidentally, all of this mirrors my opinion on Frank Turner as of late, who seems to be one of their best pals these days.)

 

^Are you from the US or Canada? I've seen them live in both and while they are still one of the better live acts out there regardless of where they play it is a different show. In Canada they usually have the horn section, backup singers, bigger production vs in US its just them. I found songs like Knockin and People's Champ (from what I can see in videos) are a lot more alt-rock and less bombastic when it is just them and not the big band... when it is guitar and keyboards playing all the parts instead of a whole horn section. Here's a video my buddy took in DC of Knockin' a year or so ago:

Also mainly came here to post as I was watching their Insta-stories today and they had a clip of People's Champ live from some festival yesterday. Where again it is just them no frills and in that 30 second clip I found a new liking for the song. Reminded me more of the grit of first album. Wish I could link to it from here but sounded quite different.

 

New song clip on their Instagram. Sounds great!

 

Ahh this is great

 

Only For A Moment is a solid tune, but sounds a lot like 11:11

 

You say that as if it's a bad thing! Hehe.

Chorus definitely has a similar feel. This must be the one they tweeted about being "11:11 2.0" haha

 

I’m from the GTA so they’re from just beyond my neighborhood haha. I actually love the horn section. Whenever bands add horns I’m all about it.

I just find that the songwriting overall isn’t what I am looking for anymore.

“So we stumbled down broadway / everybody gettin’ slop-pay.”

 

Count me in as a fan of Only For A Moment (and glad to see a non-bombastic new song). Bet it will sound great live... that's the true test for me with this band whenever they drop new songs. While sure studio stuff sounds good, I feel throughout their career the songs come alive more in the live setting.

 

Man that song approaches Imagine Dragons levels of bad

 

it's far from their best, but let's not bring Imagine Dragons into this, that's just straight up rude

 

If they are going the Imagine Dragons ultra pop-rock way I'm not even mad.

 

Why is Imagine Dragons a name that always gets dropped when someone doesn't like something, despite it sounding nothing like them?

"Relentless" does not sound like an Imagine Dragons song lol. People tried to say that about Dashboard's new album too

 

Because Imagine Dragons is the sound of a bunch of dudes playing instruments in the video and none of those instruments being heard in the audio

Love me some Arkells but they are better than a drum track and a few synthesizers