"One Day" by Kodaline + In a Perfect World Track by Track, Thursday, July 27, 2023

Today is a perfect day to revisit Kodaline's In a Perfect World. The cover of the album reminds me of a summer day at the lake. The music soundtracks the drive to that lake outing as well as the lazy afternoon you spend in a coffee shop with a friend to beat the heat. However this summer is finding you; indoors or outdoors, rain or shine; I hope that listening to Kodaline's first album is the perfect accompaniment to these hot days!

1. "One Day." The album starts with a radio-ready track. We're immediately drawn into Steve Garrigan's unique vocals. Sometimes his Irish accent comes through, particularly on "through the eyes of someone else." The song builds from a simple guitar to more climactic backing vocals on the final chorus. The band re-recorded the song in 2014, a year after the album's release, short-cutting the build, making the backing vocals even bigger. Both versions of the song are worth a listen, but the original fits better with the album.

2. "All I Want."Kodaline certainly isn't a huge band in the United States. However, "All I Want" is their most successful track, thanks to placements in shows such as Grey's Anatomy and on the soundtrack to the film The Fault in Our Stars. As the second track on In a Perfect World, the song is a slow build and not entirely catchy until it hits the guitar solo, tying the song together. 

3. "Love Like This" feels like it's taking notes from Mumford & Sons. No it's not banjo or mandolin-based, but the strumming guitar adds an energy that was missing on the last track. The harmonica makes the song feel like a camping tune. 

4. "High Hopes" takes the emotion "All I Want" conveys in lyrics and transposes that sadness into a musically-moving ballad. I've written about this track twice, so check out those posts.

5. "Brand New Day." I've written about this track twice as well, though I've chosen the acoustic version featuring additional vocals by English singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt. 

6. "After the Fall" brings the album more into Coldplay/U2 territory. The piano-based anthem soars.  Original? Not exactly, but it's certainly inspirational. It's a song about picking yourself back up after facing failure.

7. "Big Bad World" feels more processed than the previous songs, feeling more in-line with what Kodaline's music would become on their later releases. It's a song about the human experience of taking a chance in a world that seems unforgiving.

8. "All Comes Down" gives us Steve Garrigan's power vocals again. The gospel-inspired track is moving with a choir, piano, and guitars taking a secondary role. The lyrics deal with a similar theme on the album of life being up to the individual. The verses deal with the hardships, but the chorus propel the listener to make the move.

9. "Talk" ventures into "sad boy" territory. The slow song deals with a break up and the aftermath, being unable to talk to the person anymore. This ultimately deprives the speaker of closure.

10. "Pray" is a haunting song. Garrigan has talked about being raised culturally Catholic as many of his peers who grew up in Dublin, yet he has also expressed his doubt of the existence of God in interviews and in his music. However, "Pray," is a song about hope. The dreary song feels like a spiritual end of the album's middle act. This set of introspective songs from "After the Fall" to "Pray" raise questions about God and the answer is mostly as unanswered the song abruptly changes into the next song.

11.  "Way Back When" is a fun track if you separate it from the previous song. It's a storytelling song not focused on the future but the past. It's such a contrast to the existential songs in the center of the album.

12. "The Answer" returns back to the existential themes of the album, but the speaker has resolved that he is not "searching for the answer" nor "looking for the truth." The song is also the first bonus track, not part of the original album.

13. "Perfect World" is the title track of the record, but it's also a bonus track. While it was recorded and released on the band's 2012 self-titled EP, the song was only included on bonus editions--the streamable version on Apple Music and Spotify--of the album. The song implies that perhaps everything is not okay because we don't live in a perfect world. The band also filmed a music video for the song.

14. "Lose Your Mind" and 15. "Latch" don't add much to the record. In fact, some of the B-sides they included in the Collection edition, like "Gabriel" would have fit better on the album