Embracing Their Inner Pop

When The Kooks made their way into the mainstream in 2006, they were celebrated as the new “it” band, fitting into the pigeon hole formerly occupied by the Libertines and the Strokes. Their sophomore effort, Konk, was criticized for either sounding too much or not enough like their previous album. Junk of the Heart, failed to impress the critics. The transition from greasy Strokes/Libertines aping towards a more polished, poppy sound was more than some could stomach. Now that the band has partnered with Inflo (a previously under-known hip-hop producer discovered on SoundCloud) and pushed further into the pop realm, it is easy to assume that the critics who panned their previously work are going to find ample reason to dislike this new direction. However, that is inconsequential. Listen is an excellent pop record.

In order to properly assess The Kooks and their work, a listener needs to stand back and look beyond genre politics at the core of this band. The Kooks have been a solid pop act from Day One. Their previous sound, heavily grounded in Britpop orthodoxy, worked on their first two albums, but on this album everything finally clicks into place.

“It Was London” is the only remnant of the band’s previous guitar-riff driven sound. A reaction to the 2011 London riots, the disbelief at the civil unrest and the government response is palpable in the aggressive rock. However, the core four-piece band is overlaid with multiple layer of solo electric guitars, percussion embellishments and samples giving it a “produced” vibe. The rest of the album is pure studio, a mixture of loops and synths and overdubs and effects. The result is a compelling pop album, painted with a wider palette of musical influences and sounds than their previous releases.

Despite the lush pop production, this album’s lyrical content is more raw, more personal. Whether this is the product of Luke Pritchard, the primary songwriter for the group, maturing as an artist, or the influence of the new producer, is anyone’s guess. Regardless, songs like “Westside” and “See Me Now” dive deeply into personal territory. The former, an upbeat tribute to the marriage of Pritchard’s two best friends, is infectious, danceable, has a catchy sing-along chorus and will probably eventually end up in heavy wedding reception rotation. The latter, based on a letter he wrote to his deceased father at Inflo’s behest, starts out simply as vocals with piano accompaniment before building with the rest of the band, utilizing Beatles and Slade-esque flourishes. The final chorus’s inclusion of a gospel choir takes away from the confessional aspect of the song, but not enough to detract from its overall power.

While there are a few weaker tracks in the second half of the album (namely the fun. flavored “Are We Electric” and the faux-Balearic “Sunrise”), The Kooks are coming into their own with this record and finding their own voice.