The U.S. was sort of introduced to The Kooks with the songs “Naive” and/or “She Moves In Her Own Ways” which both have a laid back pop/rock sound with plenty of grove to them. While the band’s first effort was ok, the band has upped their game and seem ready for the limelight on this side of the pond.

‘Konk’ gives off the impression that The Kooks are very aware of the wide audience they’ll be reaching with the songs and have written accordingly. The album as a whole is very mainstream friendly with upbeat pop-rock anthems bursting at the seams.

“See The Sun” is the absolute best start to a record I can recall in recent memory. The gentle strum of the electric guitar with the thick British accent singing “Oh, you can have it all and wrap it in the world…You can have love and lots of earthly things…” make the song stand out from the moment it begins. The song gets better as it goes on with the tempo speeding up and other melodies being explored. “Mr. Maker” rides on the first coat tails of the band’s last album, style wise, and should do well as a second radio single. I can’t imagine the band and label not releasing this song as single because of its automatic connection the clappy chorus creates with the listener.

When you dig down past the catchy melodies the album really revolves around heart break and loss of love. Although masked by major chords, the lyrics don’t hide the fact that the songwriter was/is clearly in pain.

“Do You Wanna” is the first real stumble that ‘Konk’ presents as the lyrics are a bit sleazy and tasteless asking “do you wanna make love to me, I know you wanna.” “Gap” however raises the bar back up, especially when it gets to the second verse and the desperation in Luke Pritchard’s voice comes through.

The album feels very complete and cohesive. The songs all share similar themes and style without being duplicates of each other. “Sway” is a pleasant surprise as it ups the rock notch a few bars. The chorus is heavier while actually creating a swaying feeling, and the song will definitely warrant head bobbing when being played live.

‘Konk’ really is the album I was hoping for from The Kooks. The band proves that they are more than a one hit wonder, dodging the dreaded sophomore slump.

Track Listing
1. “See the Sun”
2. “Always Where I Need to Be”
3. “Mr. Maker”
4. “Do You Wanna”
5. “Gap”
6. “Love It All”
7. “Stormy Weather”
8. “Sway”
9. “Shine On”
10. “Down to the Market”
11. “One Last Time”
12. “Tick of Time” and “All Over Town” (hidden track)

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Buy ‘Konk’ for $8.99 from Amazon.com

Tags: konk, music, the kooks

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 5:27 am and is filed under Full Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.