Kings of Leon
Aha Shake Heartbreak

(RCA)

First Appeared in The Music Box, April 2005, Volume 12, #4

Written by T.J. Simon

Thu April 28, 2005, 12:00 AM GMT

The unusual foursome known as Kings of Leon consists of three brothers and a cousin — the Followill family — from rural Tennessee. They were raised in a cultural vacuum while being home schooled on the road with the family’s traveling evangelist patriarch. So, as one might imagine, the group’s style is a unique one that blends the bits of southern, progressive, and garage rock into a consistently pleasing product on the band’s sophomore outing Aha Shake Heartbreak.

Kings of Leon is headed by Caleb Followill whose singing mimics the vocal pitch of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler with the marble mouth delivery of Garrett Dutton (a.k.a. G. Love from G. Love and Special Sauce). The disc begins with the amazing Slow Night, So Long, a catchy guitar rock number that showcases progressive chord changes worthy of The Mars Volta or Phish before it concludes with an alluring bossa nova groove. With its hand clap rhythms and awesome guitar work, King of the Rodeo is an equally impressive tune, and the other home run track is The Bucket, which owes a musical debt to both Aerosmith and The Strokes.

In fact, the influence of The Strokes’ guitar sound is the unifying factor that ties together the songs on Aha Shake Heartbreak. The tracks Taper Jean Girl, Soft, and Velvet Snow all borrow from the New York band’s stylistic approach. Unfortunately, things falter a bit when Kings of Leon slows down its tempo; it’s here that the the limitations of Caleb’s voice become apparent. Day Old Blues, for example, is too similar to the Black Crowes’ She Talks to Angels to ignore the similarities, and the closing track Rememo fails to resonate. Caleb Followill’s lyrics are pretty obtuse and difficult to decipher, but when one can follow his story, it can get downright creepy, such as on Soft’s ode to erectile dysfunction. Home-schooled, backwoods, hillbillies who can’t get it up? That’s too much information, thank you.

None of these criticisms belie the fact that Kings of Leon is an innovative group doing something very different and making some unforgettable music. The band’s profile likely will be raised significantly while serving as the opening act on U2’s summer tour. In the meantime, Aha Shake Heartbreak is the perfect CD for people who listen to a lot of modern rock but have grown bored by its increasingly generic mediocrity. ½

Aha Shake Heartbreak is available from
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Ratings

1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2005 The Music Box