Hey, everyone! It’s Arianna here!

I hope you festive friends have had a wonderful Christmas and are now enjoying your annual Boxing Day. I’m looking forward to the beginning of the New Year and I hope you are too. But there’s something else I’m looking forward to: it is, of course, Mellow Mondays. Rachel’s already beat me to the first post. So, I’m here to kickstart my first entry of this series!

(Gosh, I hope we stick to this!)

“Come Around Sundown“ by Kings of Leon (2010)


The first album I want to talk about in this series is one of my all time favourites. Come Around Sundown is the perfect tool for relaxation, studying and for exerting an overall mellow-jam experience. I swear by this album for many reasons – one of the reasons being that I find Caleb’s voice very versatile. He has a sexy, husky raspiness to his lungs, and it certainly allows for both an easy-listening experience and intense experience of pure eargasm.

I also find this album very thought-provoking. This is one of the main reasons why I listen to it – to use it for revision or when I am writing essays. It’s a pretty slow-paced album – Radioactive and Mary being the worst examples of this deduction, but the rest of the album is pretty chill and doesn’t distract me whilst my little brain is ticking away.

In an article written in NME by Luke Lewis, he describes the album as being “so desperate to prove its own authenticity it forgets to be remotely moving”. Don’t let this put you off because, quite frankly, this entire statement is, in Hagrid’s words, codswallop. Personally speaking, I believe this album to be one of KOL’s best works, if not, the best album that they have ever produced. And “forgets to be remotely moving”? Listen to Pyro or The Face, pal, and come back to me when you’re drowning in your own tears.

So, in terms of my favourite, it’s very difficult for me to pick a definitive favourite from the 13-track album. But I definitely have my favourites. Plural. I think Pyro and The Face are beautiful, so they’re definitely up there. I love the country-like nature of Back Down South – I’m a sucker for a bit of ol’ country and Back Down South is one of my personal, classic car-journey bangers. However, the one that I find myself listening to the most from the album is The Immortals. I could listen to it on repeat for days on end because the chorus is magical. The guitar is magical. Caleb’s voice is magical. Lyrics? Magical. It’s a true depiction of self-discovery. I find myself listening to this one the most when I am feeling down, anxious or stressed. It reminds me to keep calm and just take life as it comes – to ‘spill out on the streets of stars and ride away’ on the adventure that life brings.

(Well… That turned unexpectedly emotional.)

The entire album can be found on Spotify, YouTube and iTunes, and I fully recommend that you listen to the entire album through at least once. Close your eyes, press play and let Caleb and the guys transport you in to a realm of goosebumps.

I’ll leave you with the entire album as a little Christmas treat.
FULL ALBUM HERE! (via YouTube)

See ya later, gang. Enjoy!
– Ari x