Near To The Wild Heart Of Life

2017 release from the Canadian duo. Japandroids consists of Brian King and David Prowse. Their third album, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, was written clandestinely throughout 2014 and 2015 in Vancouver, Toronto, New Orleans, and Mexico City. It was (mostly) recorded at Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, BC with one song, "True Love And A Free Life Of Free Will", recorded at Golden Ratio in Montreal, QC. The title, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, comes from a passage in the novel A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce: "He was alone. He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life." Like their prior albums Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album features eight songs. This is because eight songs is the standard template for a great rock n roll album. Like Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album was sequenced specifically for the LP. On Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, side A (songs 1-4) and side B (songs 5-7) each follow their own loose narrative. Taken together as one, they form an even looser narrative, with the final song on side B (song 8) acting as an epilogue. If Celebration Rock was the culmination of something, then Near To The Wild Heart Of Life can be considered the beginning of something else.