FIVE years on from the release of their critically acclaimed sophomore album, Japandroids return with their most experimental album yet. The Canadian duo’s five-year break has allowed for some growth on Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, as they add synths, ballads and acoustic guitars to their wide array of tracks, making for a compelling new set of instrumentals.

The themes of all their albums to date are pretty much the same as old school rock n roll – girls and booze. And while the self-sufficient independent approach and classic Springsteen and Petty influences are just some of the reasons Japandroids stand out from the crowd, steadfastly clinging to well-trodden lyrical themes from album to album may end up being their own Achille’s heel. While sex and drugs have been a winning formula for legends gone-by, the alchemy of these two things in their lyrics is predictable now. It’s the third album that the duo have dedicated it to and is the only instance in which the band hasn’t grown in their five-year break. That being said, the word choice for discussing women and drinking this time around is much more poetically put together than previous efforts.

By comparison, Brian King and David Prowse’s song writing at the beginning of their careers was minimalistic to say the least – after all, a whole song was built around the line “after her/I quit girls” looped repeatedly. Whereas on this LP, they have taken even bigger leaps and bounds since 2012’s Celebration Rock, covering an immense scope of subjects such as saints and sinners, shamans, sorcery, cigarettes, heathens and harlots – and somehow taking these bigger and darker ideas and supressing them into the thematical confines of their dedication to love and companionship. The songs almost become short snippets of narrative, each individual track registering as though they are separate chapters of a romance novel.

The title track is almost a warm greeting for the long-time fans. It’s the story of King and Prowse reuniting for the first time since they took a break from one another post-tour in 2014. For once, the lyrics seem as though they aren’t about pining for female companionship but for one another; exhibiting an irrepressible desire for retreating to the studio and getting back to their music. The duo sing the line “succumb to the city and surrender/baby I’ll be waiting here” as though they are calling out to one another.

‘No Known Drink Or Drug’ slips back into the age-old lyrical concerns that are so entrenched in their musical blueprint but instrumentally it is one of the album’s standouts, as the speed of each strum of the guitar strings builds up into a rapid sprint and fades out in the last few seconds in a tired state.

Where producer Jesse Gander does well is in placing the faster-up-tempo tracks and slower tunes such as ‘True Love And A Free Life Of Free Will’ in the right places. By spreading them out, the album is a lot easier to listen to from start to finish.

Given the opportunity, King and Prowse do tend to become entirely loosened among the chaos and madness of their music, therefore having some breathing space between the full-on and stripped-back moments is a welcome change  and helps the pace of the album seem smooth rather than jarring.

One talking point that must be highlighted is ‘Arc Of Bar.’ It acts as an anchor, bringing the album to a standstill around halfway into the runtime and demonstrates how much their label  trusts them to fully experiment with a new sound. The robotic synth-tones backing up the seven-minute track throughout gives fans just a glimpse of the duo’s possible future in electronic-rock music – even if it is the one song that feels a little sloppy and rough around the edges.

Overall, Japandroids took a big risk developing their sound to a much fuller extent and have broadened their horizons to possibly crossing over to other genres – should they choose to try it out one day. The electronic side of rock is something that the band should explore further, but perhaps they need a producer who is willing to reel them in a little. They are a restless couple of Canadians, who tend to take their classic rock sound as far out to the edge as they can without falling over.         But without the expertise of somebody who is well versed in their prospective new genre on their team; the likelihood of them tipping over the edge in the future is high. We know the duo don’t want anybody meddling with their music, image or personal lives, but their stubbornness and refusal to accept a  helping hand might be what has made this album a good one and not a great one.