Day: November 17, 2023

28 July 2023 23 Songs, 1 hour, 36 minutes ℗ 2023 KIDinaKORNER/Interscope Records

11 March 2022 1 Song, 2 minutes ℗ 2022 KIDinaKORNER/Interscope Records

“One thing we saw very early on in the recording process was the fact that this couldn’t be one record,” Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds tells Apple Music. “There were two different directions, two stories being told and two timelines. We had songs that I wrote right after my best friend took his life and right after my sister passed away—you know, grieving songs. And then we had songs that were written, because of COVID, almost three years later, when I was in a totally different place. I had a different story to tell.” The band decided to release two variations on a single theme: Mercury – Act 1 addresses the death and grieving process, while Act 2 unpacks the complicated task of trying to move forward. These eclectic and ultimately uplifting rock songs are amplified by the band’s new collaborator: legendary producer Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, System of a Down, Tom Petty, AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers). “They’re wildly sophisticated in their production ability, in their playing and in their writing—this glut of greatness,” Rubin says of the band. Rubin’s style allowed Reynolds to rectify his loss of religious faith and discover a new kind of meaning on the record. “My first goal with creating art is putting out something that is honest,” Reynolds says. “One of the things that has been so inspiring to me working with Rick is I have been trying to refine spirituality and belief. When the rug is pulled out on you with religion, I was left with nothing. It made me trust no one. Any story anybody told me, it was a ghost story. I’ve been trying to refine believing in deeper things, unexplainable things. I’m trusting where I feel honesty. Rick is honest.” Act 1 is largely about letting go, as evidenced in the haunting vocal overlays of “Wrecked”, a song written about Reynolds’ sister-in-law, who died of cancer in 2019. “My biggest fear in life is lack of control,” Reynolds admits, revealing that he confronted that fear in a spiritually transformative ayahuasca trip, which no doubt influenced the record. “I had to give up control completely. And I died. Spiritually, I felt like I died. I saw so many things in my life from a bird’s-eye view. Then I heard, like, the bell and this incredible shaman came over and was helping me come alive again. It felt like a rebirth. It was everything I was told religion would give to me.” Act 2 focuses on the “post-death” experience, he says, and reaches for the light at the end of the tunnel. “Dealing with someone who has passed—and then what? What does tomorrow look like? Grief is always there, but life continues. It’s about being present. All you have, after you lose someone close to you, is this [new perspective] that every single second counts.”

Longtime Imagine Dragons fans will notice a newfound brightness on the Las Vegas band’s third album. That’s because frontman Dan Reynolds wrote most of it after coming out of a serious depression that had plagued him since childhood but worsened after the band’s first major tour to support its hugely successful 2012 debut album. Where 2015 follow-up Smoke + Mirrors had a heavier, darker bite, 2017’s Evolve is noticeably lighter, buoyed by more heart, soul and groove. Sonically, this is the best-selling rock band of the 2010s going full-out pop. Sure, there are a few sizzles of power-ballad guitar tossed in for good measure, but Evolve is Imagine Dragons proving it can still galvanise the forces by dialling down on the thundering rock theatrics—just a bit. Even the militaristic stomp of a song literally called “Thunder” is tempered by giddy, helium-pumped vocals. In a sense, Imagine Dragons’ evolution here is felt more in spirit than sound, and nothing says that more than the shuffling, gospel-tinged “Next To Me”, the band’s first big love song. The track was such a significant emotional shift, that the outfit decided to add it to the top of the album’s 2018 reissue. But it’s hardly the only glimmer of romance here. “I Don’t Know Why” takes a page from The Weeknd and Daft Punk’s smash collaborations with its starry-eyed electro-pop grooviness and Reynolds’ most sizzling confession yet: “Your love is always dangerous,” he sneers. On “I’ll Make It Up To You”, he pledges his loyalty to his partner over sparkling soulful pop; later, he reveals more of that tender side on the woozy electro-R&B reverie “Dancing In The Dark”.