Who cares? Apparently Portugal. The Man, in their new album, Evil Friends, showcases themes of giving up and not relying on anyone else that are prevalent through anthem-heavy choruses and classic rock guitar riffs. In comparison to their 2011 album, In The Mountain In The Cloud, the lyrics have more depth, and the sounds have a grittier style.
The band doesn’t veer off too much with their sound, keeping it loud and up-tempo, making listeners focus on the words being sung by front man, John Gourley. With dream-inducing “oohs” and “aahs” the album kicks off with “Plastic Soldiers” that features distorted Jamaican drums and mild guitar strums.
The album picks up with “Creep In A T-Shirt,” every indie rockers’ anthem with brightly dark piano melodies, introducing the “I don’t care” theme as Gourley chants “You don’t get it. I’m just a creep in a t-shirt, jeans, I don’t fucking care.” In the title track, “Evil Friends,” the beginning eerily winds up to a fast-paced ride that sounds Arctic Monkeys-ish that warns you ahead of time that they just can’t be your friend because they “have a friend in the devil.” At least they’re honest?
With electronic undertones and a powerful, harmonized chorus, “Modern Jesus” speaks the message about having faith in yourself.
“Hip Hop Kids” takes the album somewhere else with an angry diss track that doesn’t have anything special to offer. It’s not necessarily bad in style, it just feels as if it were tossed in there to get an extra message across.
Adding on to the theme of being pseudo-pessimistic, “after you, hell should be easier,” is sung over classic guitar riffs and a beat in the beginning that sounds like “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” After the heaviness of the previous track, the breezy “Sea of Air” comes along with quiet handclaps, a beautiful guitar melody and a tear-worthy chorus.
Like most of the band’s songs, “Waves” explores socio-political themes of war and government spending quite blatantly by saying, “Someone’s gotta die and you don’t have to live him, but the military’s still got more in its budget.” It’s a wild song that gets its point across quite well.
The band ties up the theme in “Purple Yellow Red and Blue” when Gourley sings, “I just wanna be evil” before the final song, “Smile,” which talks about disregarding everything around you and trying to be happy while featuring a Spanish-style guitar riff.
Even though they say that they don’t care in most of the tracks, Evil Friends was crafted with thoughtful themes and expert instrument playing, showing that the members actually give a s**t.
You can stream the album below.