These days, Nathan Willett values the autonomy he and his band, Cold War Kids, have gained over a career that now stretches 20 years and spans 10 albums. The band plays Saturday night at Deschutes Brewery as part of Subaru Winterfest.
That sense of freedom has shown up in tangible ways, first on the band's "New Age Norms" trilogy of releases and now on a self-titled album released in October. Cold War Kids embarked on these projects after their contract with Capitol Records expired and the band in 2018 released a greatest hits collection, "This Will All Blow Over In Time," and a live album, "Audience."
In a sense, those two releases marked the end of a chapter in the Cold War Kids story, and Willett, in a late-January phone interview, said he wanted to cast aside some of the usual considerations that come with making new music.
The format itself for "New Age Norms" was a bit of a rebellious statement. Each eight-song installment was a little long to be marketed as an EP, but a bit short of being a full album and was recorded with a different producer. The first installment arrived in November 2019, followed by "New Age Norms 2" in August of 2020 and the final chapter in September 2021.
"I think it represented a sort of, a lot of things," Willett said of 'New Age Norms. "I think it represented a certain type of freedom and a certain type of, like, totally not really caring about how it's all going to land. For me a lot of it is breaking the constraint of the album or the single and just kind of being somewhere in between and being sort of in a way maximal, a maximalism in ways it was this huge exercise in writing and production and trying things and spreading our wings and working with different people, working in different ways, finding different sounds, asking us what can a Cold War Kids song be like?
"I think it came at a time also when we had this sort of contractually obligated best-of collection we had to put out and we did our live record, which both ended up being great, but it was just so much backward looking that I wanted to just open the floodgates of like, I just want to write a lot," he said. "And yeah, I really needed it. It was a really healthy thing."
The three "New Age Norms" releases were well received, with some critics praising Cold War Kids for broadening their musical horizons, while delivering hook-filled songs that retained the band's signature mix of alt-rock with shadings of R&B and blues, yet also being a bit more concise and a little less chaotic than early hits like "Hang Me Up To Dry" or "Something Is Not Right With Me."
The self-titled album is back to a more conventional format of 12 songs, but it also reflects Willett's willingness to challenge himself and continue being open to new collaborations and creative approaches. He worked with several new producer/songwriters, including Militarie Gun's Max Epstein, Casey Lagos (Kesha, Wrabel), Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer), Jenn Decliveo (Miley Cyrus, Hozier) and Malay (Frank Ocean, Lorde). And he continued to explore the question of what can a new Cold War Kids song be like these days.
One notable shift came with the lyrics, which found Willett getting more introspective and personal, although not in the spill-my-guts style that's popular these days. Musically, "Cold War Kids" offers a compelling mix of rockers (the catchy "Double Life"), upbeat soul-inflected pop ("Blame," "Run Away With Me") bouncy alt-pop ("Empty Inside") and rich balladry ("Another Name" and "Starring Role.")
Much of the musical growth Cold War Kids have made and will make in the future can be traced back to a fundamental change that happened ahead of the group's third album, 2011's "Mine Is Yours." Up to then the band had been a democracy, with the four original members (singer/keyboardist/guitarist Willett, guitarist Jonnie Russell, bassist Matt Maust and drummer Matt Aveiro) seeking to contribute equally to the songwriting.
Willett and his bandmates realized democracy wasn't working, communicating was tricky and the songs themselves sometimes suffered. The better approach was to have one songwriter steering the ship, and Willett took on that role.
The band's lineup has evolved since, with Willett, Maust, David Quon (guitar), Matthew Schwartz (keyboards, guitar, percussion) and Joe Plummer (drums) intact since 2016, while Willett has remained the songwriter and leader in Cold War Kids.
With the self-titled album released and Willett and his bandmates feeling proud of their work, new songs will be a large presence in the band's current live shows. Willett appreciates the band's fans, but he said playing the new songs will help ensure he's enjoying the show Cold War Kids present each night.
"Always kind of the ambition is to want to lean heavily on the new (songs)," Willett said. "We're actually probably playing seven every night off of the new record. I'm really excited about that. I feel like more than ever, I kind of need it for my own sake."
