After their first single ‘The Death of You and Me’ received a decent reception and reached a respectable number 15 on the UK Singles Chart, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have quickly released another couple of songs from their upcoming self-titled album. ‘AKA… What a Life!’ is the second single from the album and, supported by a high-profile Vauxhall advert, it looks to be increasing on the positive opinions of Gallagher’s post-Oasis efforts.
Despite its somewhat strange title, ‘AKA… What a Life!’ is as strong a rock tune as anything else currently making its way around the charts. Where ‘The Death of You and Me’ was compared to ‘The Importance of Being Idle‘, ‘What a Life’ screams ‘Falling Down‘ upon first listen. The song is built around a slightly dark, full-sounding piano melody and a simple bass line, with plenty of classic Noel Gallagher falsetto vocals all Oasis fans love. The lyrics present an intriguingly positive perspective, juxtaposed against an almost eerie musical backdrop. Stylistically ‘What a Life’ is quite a departure from both ‘The Death of You and Me‘ and ‘If I Had a Gun‘ (the latter due to be released as the third single the week before the album), being perhaps more reflective of the later Oasis material released ‘post-Britpop’, which was more bleak and dark than the ‘anthems’ of Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory.
‘AKA… What a Life!’ is a strong single, and a prime example of Noel Gallagher’s legendary songwriting abilities. It will be interesting to see how the song fits in with the rest of the album, and also what (if any) link it has with the similarly titled ‘AKA… Broken Arrow’, another track on the upcoming album. A really good tune all-round.
