The recent influx of British bands who proudly brandish their regional accents has yet to yield a truly U.S.-conquering icon. Maxïmo Bloc Heads may set Pitchfork-scribe hearts a-flutter, but they're still as unlikely to play in Peoria as the late-60s Kinks, let alone Morrissey or Pulp. The statesiders who'd most appreciate the emo underpinning Arctic Monkeys' precocious tales of bars and bouncers can't even drink legally. And Art Brut, they're still import-only. The Kooks take elements from their up-and-coming peers and a name from Hunky Dory, achieving an adolescent universality that's at once their strongest pitch and greatest failing.
The Brighton-based quartet fill their debut Inside In/Inside Out with almost enough exuberant choruses to make up for their more generic failings. Standout "See the World" and first single "Eddie's Gun" bristle with the straightforward dynamism of I Should Coco-era Supergrass. Follow-up "Sofa Song" mugs Strokes skuzz for an attempted hookup. Even as mellower tracks like "Ooh La" or "Naive" find an uncomfortable meeting point between the Verve and Eagle Eye Cherry, their singalong hooks are hard to hate. The acoustic pop of "Jackie Big Tits" is far more charming than its title suggests. "You only go around, round, round," sings Luke Pritchard, his Casablancas-choked, thickly accented melodies translating thanks to sharp melodies and common themes.
Ah, but common also has a pejorative sense. Fast and furious third single "You Don't Love Me" lacks its predecessors' catchiness, while the shimmying verses of "Ooh La" resort to faceless bromides: "It's a hard life to live/ So live it well". It's unclear why opener "Seaside" is acoustic and drumless, aside from youthful overconfidence; "I'm just trying to love you," Pritchard complains. His oft-repeated thoughts on romance don't get much more novel on the band's sojourns into the umpteenth-wave ska also practiced occasionally by the Arctics and fellow Brits the Paddingtons, such as the stuttering "Match Box" or awkwardly political "If Only".
The Kooks' keen grasp of the banal isn't the only factor keeping them from a distinct personality. Between bouncy Britpop, angst-ridden acoustic anthems, red-light skanking, "Hounds of Love" oh-oh harmonies, and the Delta blues intro to "Time Awaits", it's not clear the Kooks know who they want to be when they grow up yet, either. Weaker atmospheric tracks like "I Want You Back" and the closing "Got No Love" suggest the Kooks are best when they're focused instead on brash, catchy, preferably witty pop. True, the provincial focus of a band like Arctic Monkeys may make their songs difficult exports. By contrast, though, being universal doesn't have to mean being impersonal.
