Declan McKenna
Zeros
Release Date: Sep 4, 2020
Genre(s): Singer/Songwriter, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Record label: Tomplicated
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Album Review: Zeros by Declan McKenna
Excellent, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 8
"We're gonna get ourselves killed!" is one sentiment you could take from Declan McKenna's new album 'Zeros'. A record that utilises dystopia as a mirror to articulate modern day concerns, reaching epic proportions of impending doom. Breathtakingly chaotic, you find yourself cast off into orbit above Earth, dodging laser blasts of synthesiser, trying to find your bearings between piano sections and riffs that swell like supernovas.
Based on rating 4/5
"What do you think about the rocket I built?" asks Declan McKenna in opener 'You Better Believe!!!', both a slick nod back to the singer's 2017 debut 'What Do You Think About The Car?' and an immediate hint as to where its follow-up is aiming: skywards. And in similar ways to Sundara Karma's second full-length 'Ulfilas' Alphabet' ('The Key To Life On Earth' and 'Daniel, You're Still A Child' would easily slide in on that one) and Harry Styles' entire solo canon ('Emily' very much in particular), Declan's musical palette second time around comes full of glitter and flares, taking all it can from the decades taste forgot. The opener makes like The Kinks' Ray Davies fronting T.Rex (via a smidgen of Arcade Fire).
Based on rating 4
Since winning the 2015 Emerging Talent Competition at Glastonbury, Declan McKenna‘s reputation for producing politically driven songs has grown. He’s taken on FIFA over football corruption on the song Brazil, and challenged the government over their foreign policy on British Bombs. For Zeros, McKenna escaped the pressures of his native London for Nashville and, for the first time, recorded an album with a live band.
Based on rating 7.3/10
"What do you think about the rocket I built?" howls Declan McKenna on the first track of Zeros. It's a cheeky nod at the gap between his uneven 2017 debut album, What Do You Think About the Car?, and this one: not a natural progression, but a staggering improvement. McKenna, a 21-year-old British singer-songwriter once hailed as a teen prodigy, has shed his boy-wonder baby fat.
'Zeros'
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