Inner World Peace - Frankie Cosmos

Image of Frankie Cosmos band, taken by Pooneh Ghana, sourced from https://www.frankiecosmosband.com/

On October 21, 2022, American indie-pop group Frankie Cosmos released their fifth studio album, Inner World Peace. While the album doesn’t diverge from the group’s signature upbeat sound, Inner World Peace is certainly more retrospective than the group’s previous projects. Pulling inspiration from the worldwide struggle of the pandemic and the self-reflection that followed, Inner World Peace is refreshingly modern while still calling back to ‘70s pop and 2000s indie-rock. Led by singer-songwriter Greta Kline, Frankie Cosmos’ newest release has a notable sense of maturity, in part due to Kline’s growth as a songwriter and her willingness to explore the discomfort of growing up that many don’t admit to.

To kick off the 15 track album is “Abigail,” which places a depressing tale of unrequited love against a cheerful instrumental backdrop. The contrast between the lyrics that serve as a dramatic plea to the song’s subject and the chill vibe of the instrumentation sets the tone for the rest of the album. While the song is not particularly revolutionary, it definitely gets the job done of being appealing enough for listeners to discover the true gems that come later on in the album.

Following “Abigail” is the second out of the four singles released by the group from August to October of this year, “Aftershook.” The song is unconventional in many ways. The lyrics are a bit nonsensical, with the title of the song not even being a real word. The song’s lyrics discuss the push and pull of the optimism that often comes with falling in love while still being burdened by your past. However, the music video’s disorienting first-person view and seemingly random shots of a person roaming the city while turning into a monster left me wondering if there was more to the song than I had originally thought. “Aftershook” also features an abrupt change in tempo from the song’s verse to its chorus, speeding up as the singer reflects on this “aftershook.” While this shift is a bit jarring, the song is a very catchy and enjoyable listen.

The fourth track on the album, “Magnetic Personality,” highlights the more experimental side of Inner World Peace. One of the album’s many cited influences is ‘70s psychedelic rock, which is on full display in this song. “Magnetic Personality” pushes the drums and guitar to the forefront, with loud crashing cymbals and a plethora of guitar riffs. Even with the more in-your-face backing instrumentals, Kline’s vocals remain elegant and soft, creating a very unique sound.

“Empty Head,” the eighth track on the album, is one of my favorite songs on Inner World Peace. The intro of the song is almost meditative, with a tranquil synth and gentle bass guitar. The lyrics begin with an acknowledgement that it’s ok to not be constantly thinking about something and to just have an “empty head.” When the song reaches the chorus, however, it speeds up and becomes more upbeat and percussive, similar to “Aftershook.” One aspect I found interesting about the song was its nearly two-minute-long instrumental outro where the instrumentation slowly begins to mimic the song’s instrumental introduction. It almost serves as a reminder to the listener that despite all of the stresses and anxieties described in the song, you can and deserve to quiet those thoughts even if just for a short period of time.

The 11th and 12th songs on the album, “One Year Stand” and “F.O.O.F.,” which were both released as singles, prove to be two of the strongest songs on the album. “One Year Stand” is super imaginative in its lyricism, using a fun analogy comparing growing up to a cast iron pan gathering new flavors over time but still remaining the same at its core. “F.O.O.F.” (which stands for “Freak Out on Friday”) is equally as fun and incredibly relatable. Lyrics such as “It’s still Wednesday, I have to wait / Two more sleeps ‘til I freak out on Friday” really resonate with me as a college student who always finds myself counting down the days until the weekend.

While many of the songs on Inner World Peace add depth to Frankie Cosmos’ repertoire, not all are stand-alone hits. Inner World Peace uniquely combines infectious rhythms with deep questions of reflection that leaves listeners both thinking and dancing. While the album isn’t the most revolutionary in its approach, I’m excited to see the group experiment with new sounds and I will definitely have many of the album’s songs on repeat for the next few days.