I know, I know: not other “The” band, right? Ever since The Strokes kicked off the whole neo-garage-rock trend with 2001’s Is This It?, seems like every band with matching haircuts and an amp is The Somethings or Others: The Hives, The Vines, The Futureheads, The Libertines, etc. But The Kooks are a little different: kinda like those bands’ more pop-oriented kid brothers, more Rubber Soul than Exile on Main Street. And they grow up a bit on their second release, Konk, adding a hint of darkness to their usual brand of sunny British pop-rock. It’s not flawless, but it’s a nice little summer soundtrack.
Hailing from Brighton, The Kooks debuted a couple years back with Inside In/Inside Out, delivering a host of absurdly catchy three-minute tunes like “She Moves In Her Own Way” and “Eddie’s Gun.” But they were still finding themselves, too, trying on the somber blues of “Got No Love” like a too-big jacket. And on Konk, they’re still adding to their musical palette. They’re decidedly less fresh-faced this time around, with world-weary vocals from lead singer Luke Pritchard, and that gives them an edge missing from their debut. But they still deliver the pop-rock goods—while offering glimpses of an even richer future.
“See The Sun,” like the previous album’s “Seaside,” warms us up with some quiet acoustic guitar, but then changes gears and snaps into a upbeat rocker. Lead single “Always Where I Want to Be” closely follows the Inside In/Inside Out mold of crisp drums, loud guitars, and Pritchard’s heavily accented vocals; it’s a car-windows-down, radio-blaring hit. “Mr. Maker” bounces along in the vein of early Beatles, with jangling guitars and sugary-sweet harmonies. And it’s all so effortless; you get the feeling that these guys just roll out of bed and dash off chart-toppers in between bites of cereal.
But they’re also big rock stars now, and they seem to know they need to deliver a few ready-made singles to please the record company gods. They push too hard at times, from the crappy poseur-rock of “Do You Wanna” to the vapid cheese-fest “Shine On,” which—surprise!—has already found its way into a Michelob Ultra commercial. Pop is tricky, because the line between sublime and embarrassing is so thin—and sadly, The Kooks fall on the wrong end of that line a couple times here.
Their instincts are still strong, though, and they manage to break new ground for themselves. The rueful break-up tune “Gap” shows a newfound lyrical depth, and “One Last Time” shines with a slick, almost-’80s shimmer. The highlight here, though, is a total curveball for The Kooks: the shaggy reggae singalong “Tick of Time.” It’s recorded live, so it’s unabashedly rough around the edges; it probably won’t show up in a beer commercial anytime soon. But it shows that The Kooks can shed the studio polish and still succeed—and that they still have some surprises in store for us down the line.
(And if you want a sneak peek at those surprises, look for the special edition of Konk, with a bonus disc of nine (!) extra tracks.)
Konk is out now on Astralwerks; check out their official site or iTunes for more info. I give it a 7.
Recommended If You Like: The Strokes, Rooney, The Arctic Monkeys
3 Comments
July 17, 2008 at 10:32 am
[...] Gentleman of Leisure: ”They push too hard at times, from the crappy poseur-rock of ‘Do You Wanna’ to the vapid cheese-fest ‘Shine On,’ which—surprise!—has already found its way into a Michelob Ultra commercial.” [...]
August 3, 2008 at 10:59 am
Brilliant!
October 11, 2008 at 2:15 pm
[...] – bookmarked by 1 members originally found by Iwillbot on 2008-09-19 The Kooks, Konk http://gentlemanofleisure.wordpress.com/?p=27 – bookmarked by 4 members originally found by [...]