Look, I dig Cold War Kids, okay? They’re that indie alt rock band I often don’t immediately recognize upon first listen but whose radio hits always make me stop and bust out the Shazam. “First”? “Love Is Mystical”? “Complainer? (This is Cold War Kids? I’ve thought every single time that tune off 2019’s New Age Norms 1 plays.) “Hang Me Up to Dry”? (Still a fucking jam and my favorite by them.) “We Used to Vacation”? (There has never been a catchier track about quitting drinking than this one.) I’ve described frontman Nathan Willett as having a “sexy operatic urgency to his vocals, like he could just scream out at any moment, and with perfect pitch, and it would not only sound good, but you’d have to stop and pay attention.” I stand by that. by Leilani Polk