Only by the Night

Their hooks are on fire. The Followills double down with a masterclass in monumental choruses and sweeping prairie rock on songs that pack devastating pop precision beneath their ragged soul. It’s hard to look beyond “Sex On Fire”—an audacious cocktail of anthemic uplift and unbuckled raunch—but from the crackling stomp of “Crawl” and the soaring harmonies on “Use Somebody” to the triumphant chimes gilding “17”, this fourth record (released just a year after their third) is a near-flawless showcase of Caleb, Jared, Nathan, and Matthew’s songwriting supremacy.