Los Colognes - The Wave (2017)

One of the highest and rarest aspirations in popular music is to reach for the transcendental, to access the spirit. On the third album, The Wave, by Nashville based Los Colognes, they succeed just this - in breaking through the confines of everyday pop song lyricism to tell a sort of holistic story. It's not a concept piece, but it's a brooding and still joyful song cycle filled with philosophical rumination, effortless hooks, inspiring musicianship, and expansive arrangements. It's an album perfectly suited of the current zeitgeist of unease and hope.