Cold War Kids unveil acoustic version of new single 'Complainer'

'Complainer' and '4th Of July' both available now on all streaming platforms

Cold War Kids have released 'Complainer (Strings & Keys)', a powerful acoustic version of their acclaimed new single, 'Complainer'. Both tracks are available now at all DSPs and streaming services.

Produced by Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, HEALTH, Foster the People), 'Complainer' marks Cold War Kids’s first co-write with multi-platinum songwriter Bonnie McKee (Katy Perry, Rita Ora) and Electric Guest’s Asa Taccone. 'Complainer' is currently top 25 on the alternative radio charts and nearing the top 10 of AAA. The first new music from Cold War Kids in more than two years, the song arrived earlier this summer alongside '4th of July', also available now at all DSPs and streaming services.

'Complainer' and '4th of July' were both greeted by immediate critical applause, with Atwood magazine declaring, “Their recent songs find Cold War Kids fired up, assertive, and actively engaged…Meaningful and breathtakingly emotional, Cold War Kids’ new music is nothing short of brilliant. Their return is impassioned and charged, intellectually stimulating and provocative. Cold War Kids challenge listeners to think critically about who we are and how we interact with our world, all while providing an exciting, enjoyable soundtrack to our individual and group reflections.” Paste hailed 'Complainer' as “groovy and undeniably dance-ready” while praising '4th of July' for its “smooth piano riffs and nostalgic lyrics.” “With a grooving stomp and a muted funk, ‘Complainer’ finds Cold War Kids laying down a challenge for the ineffectual dreamers of the world,” wrote Consequence of Sound. “‘4th of July’ meanwhile is something of the reverse. A piano bopper laying back in the sun, the song is about acknowledging how far Cold War Kids have come — and being careful not to lose themselves in success.” 

Over their career, Cold War Kids have fielded music’s seismic shifts while simultaneously sticking to their own game plan. Over the course of a dozen releases - including seven studio albums, multiple EPs, and 2017’s live collection, 'Audience' '- on majors and indies alike, non-stop tours and the festival circuit’s biggest stages, massive radio and streaming successes as well as a few lineup changes of their own, Nathan Willett and his band have become a major part of the modern landscape. 

Coming off of the high water marks of 2014’s 'Hold My Home' - with its smash single, 'First' - and 2017’s acclaimed 'LA Divine', Willett began to hone in on what was most exciting and integral to him in both the Cold War Kids recipe as well as in the current music climate. While on tour in the summer of 2018, he and the band obsessed over the seemingly never-ending stream of Kanye West-produced records being released (particularly gravitating to those by Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, and Kid Cudi), enamored of their breezy compactness and fresh feeling. Willett became excited to explore a working relationship with his longtime producer of favor, Lars Stalfors. Upon Willett’s return to Los Angeles, the pair entered the studio to write a very specific type of album. 

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