Imagine Dragons – I Bet My Life

“That chorus startled me in the best way”

Tim: Creators of surprisingly listenable rock music Imagine Dragons are back with the lead single from their second album; here it is:

Tom: That’s a great intro.

Tim: And that’s a GREAT track, I think. It’s a far cry from their first releases, almost to the extent that it’s hard to call it rock any more (or at least that’s the case if you read the YouTube comments left by their real fans).

Tom: You forgot to put scare-quotes around “real” and “fans” there.

Tim: I don’t quite know what the noises are in the background – in the opening they sounded like some weird backing vocals, but looking at the artwork, the noises sound later more like crows squawking, which is weird.

Tom: See, I heard someone using one of those high-speed Formula 1 tyre-changing things. Probably shows how our brains work, that.

Tim: The rhythm’s nice – the verses have the same measured sound that I really liked in The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball (with apologies if it’s still too early to link to that), and the choruses have exactly the right level of shoutiness not to be too annoying.

Tom: Agreed: that chorus startled me in the best way. Fantastic.

Tim: All in all, I like it a lot, and while (given the variety of tracks on Night Visions) I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions about it from one track, I’m looking forward to the new album, out in February.