Tyler Cole’s Album We’re In Love & The World Is Ending Was Criminally Overlooked Last Year.
Every now and then an artist arrives with a strong idea or who they want to be and what they want to create. Their ideas are clear and the potential is obvious. That is what is so easy to tell about Tyler Cole, a being with a beautiful heart and voice. His music has such an incredible sense of freedom and sincerity. On We’re in Love & the World is Ending, he blends soft, lighthearted alternative R&B with rough guitar laced rock ballads. It’s a consistent shift that plays to the strengths of his imagination.
We’re in Love & the World is Ending is not just a love album. It’s an album that encapsulates love as an idea and observes it from afar. The opening track, “Sidney Portier”, begins with subtle strings. The vocal tone he uses is easygoing and colorful. Then the drums become heavier and the guitar becomes warped. The instrumentation grows into a dizzying spiral that remains gorgeous. This first track introduces the world you are entering.
The album does a great job of grabbing your attention when you press play on multiple songs. Cole’s expression of emotion is a combination of the production and his flavorful voice. He uses his vocals to command a number of moods and feelings. “Love at First Fight” plays like a Broadway musical. The lyrical structure of the song is conversational. It visualizes love striking your heart so hard you get a “charleyhorse.” He asks questions over heavenly violins in a quiet voice of the emotion that struck him so.
You can describe him as spontaneous, not because of his genre-blending or overall alternative style, but because of the multiple things he can do in a single song. Cole integrates various vocalizations and interventions to make each song have a realm of its own. It’s not just love that he discusses. He also has some political commentary in there as well, i.e. “Blow Up Your TV!”. “Government Song” is an immersive performance that reflects societal progression. The way he speaks of his views is similar to Willow Smith of whom Tyler Cole is associated with. Of course, this song reflects the current landscape where everything that is unfortunate is revolved around Donald Trump.
Stream the whole LP on Apple Music and Spotify and watch the videos below.
