by Sebastian Ruan
Though the Norwegian psych-rockers, I Was A King, stay true to their form, that is psych-ballads, each song on their new 30-minute psych-parade Old Friends, I am left feeling bored. It’s a nice treat for the band to condense the instrumentation and composition of Old Friends into a sitcom-length of time. But even a bad sitcom leaves you with a lesson or a mediocre joke; I Was A King offers nothing to take home, nothing to hum once it’s all over.
The tracks themselves feel like a small conversation you overhear waiting at a bus stop or in line for a slice of pizza, they seem to grasp you with a line or a word or the context but eventually you realize there is nothing there to ease drop on. With Old Friends, the drummer’s upbeat fervor on each track is a nice touch, even turning the slower ballads like “Snow Song” into a slow dance instead of a yawn fest. “Someone Is Waiting” is probably perfect for a walk through the park but with ungrasping lyrics like “Something you gave me I can’t decide / something I just cannot hide away” it seems only necessary for a one-time through.
