Blink Once

“Not gonna lie, I’ve been fucked up/Not gonna lie, it’s been a long year.” When Max Kerman sings those words on the last song of Arkells’ sixth album, he’s not just being dramatic. Blink Once was born in a period of grief—and that was before COVID hit. Completed in the pre-lockdown dawn of 2020, the album partly serves as a eulogy for two friends who passed away the prior year, while exploring all manner of dysfunctional family dynamics and characters in need of emotional support. But by waiting to release the record until the band could safely tour again in the fall of 2021, Arkells have seen these deeply personal songs acquire a more universal resonance. “There’s a lot of songs here about loss and dealing with strained relationships,” Kerman tells Apple Music, “and I think that’s something we’re all dealing with on some level.” That said, it’s simply not in Arkells’ nature to wallow in misery—this is, after all, a band that feels most at home on an arena stage, flanked by a horn section, backing singers and pyro effects while Kerman works the crowd in his rainbow-fringed leather jacket. On Blink Once, the Canadian group reframe sadness as celebratory, seize-the-day anthems that inspire you to make the most of your time while you’re still here. And for Arkells, that means further reformulating their cocktail of classic-rock earnestness, modern indie aesthetics and Top 40 pop-rap swagger to produce a record that boasts fiery guest verses from alt-pop dynamo K.Flay (“You Can Get It”), channels the funky piano grooves of George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” (“One Thing I Know”) and name-checks The Beatles over a brassy Chance the Rapper-inspired beat (“Swing Swing Swing”). In the spoken-word snippet that introduces the latter track, Kerman announces Arkells’ mission in no uncertain terms: “I want to try doing one of those songs where people are happy and dancing, but everyone’s really fucking sad when they listen to the lyrics.” Here’s his track-by-track guide to ballin’