All At Once (Deluxe Edition)

Their second album on Island Records rings and shines with the over-the-top production values of GRAMMY®-awarded super-producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother, Marilyn Manson, Johnny Cash, Jay-Z, The Rolling Stones, etc). A bombastic title-track opens with rumbling rhythms and gossamer strings, courtesy of the Calder Quartet, as music critic-turned-frontman Mikel Jollett croons with the heartfelt, soaring inflections of a young Bono. “Numb” is similarly dramatic as winding guitars and trudging drumbeats accompany distorted synthesizers while Jollett sings lyrics about the joys of succumbing to the stereotyped aloof numbness associated with Los Angeles. Loaded with barbed hooks, the angularly arranged “Changing” kick-starts the early 2000s revival before Jollett affects a demure Julian Casablancas approach to the Strokes-esque “It Doesn’t Mean a Thing,” right down to the slightly distorted vocals.