Kings Of Leon

The Nashville group brought together brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill with their cousin Matthew. Youth and Young Manhood appeared in 2003, followed by Aha Shake Heartbreak in 2004. The songs move quickly, with clipped guitar parts and a rhythm section that rarely lets the tension settle.

That closeness gives the early material its character. The instruments seem to be pressing against one another, and the vocal can sound as if it is trying to find a way through the gaps. The effect is physical before it is grand.

Because of the Times followed in 2007, making more room for atmosphere and longer musical lines. Only by the Night, released in 2008, turned that expansion into some of the band’s most familiar songs.

Sex on Fire builds its urgency around a recurring guitar figure and a vocal which keeps reaching upwards. Use Somebody works with a more suspended feeling, allowing the refrain and the surrounding voices to fill the space. They share a large-scale sound, but the emotional movement is different in each.

Come Around Sundown, Mechanical Bull and WALLS continued the album sequence in 2010, 2013 and 2016. The band had developed a language broad enough for different tempos and moods, rather than depending on the same kind of fast attack.

The family connection is part of the history, but the musical bond is what makes the records convincing: the bass can carry a hook, the drums can hold back, and a small guitar part can make the chorus feel enormous when it finally arrives.