Japandroids, ‘The House That Heaven Built’ – Song Review

If it takes guts to be this simple, Japandroids are on straight-up hero status. The high-energy two-piece have mined the vibes of Tom ‘n’ Bruce-styled classic rock, the punk energy of the Replacements, and, judging from the unrelenting bashing they’re give their instruments, their little brother’s Ritalin and Kool-Aid stash.

‘The House That Heaven Built’ is one of the highlights of the Canadian duo’s latest release, ‘Celebration Rock,’ and, like the album itself, is a lean, mean piece of shout-along positivity. The hook, all awesomely idiot-proofed out with a constant “Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh oh oh oh!” call to arms, anchors the track and, by the end, anchors itself in your head.

(Case in point: Yesterday this writer was queued up for coffee in front of a guy whistling this very hook. Ubiquitous, we tell you.)

It’s a fast number, too, weighing in at about, we reckon, 8,000 beats per minute, which makes its nearly five-minute long running time fly by. Yeah, it’s definitely music to fall in love in a mosh pit to. Carpe diem rock: if it’s not a genre yet, it may have just been coined. (You’re welcome.)

It may be a new style of music — 15 seconds old now — but in the hot, fast-expanding world of carpe diem rock, this is just about as good as it gets.

Listen to Japandroids, ‘The House That Heaven Built’

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