Released Loyalty to Loyalty

Cold War Kids’ second album, Loyalty to Loyalty , represented a departure from its debut, featuring a lot of narrative storytelling, as well as political and philosophical references. In an interview with NPR , Nathan described the songwriting process for the album: “The choices that we make have always been organic ones, to try to grow at a rate that makes sense,” Willett says. “Not necessarily talking about, ‘Is there a great single? Is this a big breakthrough for us? Is this the next level for us?’ But just write songs. Yeah, there is a stress, and the way we deal with it is to ignore it.” Loyalty to Loyalty was released on September 23, 2008, to generally positive reviews from critics. Bart Blasengame of Paste called it “a better-than-solid album from a band that seemed equipped to someday make a classic one”. James McMahon of NME said that “Almost in defiance of poor sales and cult following, CWK and their charming second album embody everything you hoped music might be.”