To appropriate a line from John C. McGinley’s character FBI supervisor Ben Harp to Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Utah, I’d describe Andrew W.K.’s music as ‘young, dumb and full of cum.’
Okay, fair enough that on the day You’re Not Alone was released Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier was 38 years old, but the point is that the sonic aesthetic on his fourth studio album (this doesn’t include his two Japanese language K-Pop cover albums) has not altered one bit from the agenda set by 2001’s I Get Wet.
Andrew W.K.’s music is inspired by the over-bloated grandeur of classic ‘80s rock bands like Van Halen and Kansas with the dedicated student opening ‘You’re Not Alone’ and ‘The Power Of Partying’, which is a theatrical call to arms.
First song proper ‘Music Is Worth Living For’ opens with the face-sheering force we have come to expect from the one-man rock opera – layers of duelling harmonics that reach for the sky. This pattern pretty much sums up the album.
One could infer that Wilkes-Krier – a teenage piano virtuoso – conceives songs resulting in a fully immersive convergence of sound. If you love Andrew W.K., you will love this album.
7/10
