The Kooks - 'Konk' (Virgin) Released 14/04/08

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It’s fair to say that there’s been so much poo thrown the way of The Kooks and their brand of indie pop-rock that approaching a review of their second album 'Konk' has put reviewers in the most unenviable of unenviable positions. To side with the band and say that 'Konk' is a solid achievement with the band sticking to what they know best –  indie-pop rock that treads tentatively into the world of adult-contemporary and strides firmly through the borders of MOR – seems an easy way to avoid a backlash.

Yet to utterly smash 'Konk’s radio-friendly but ultimately samey set just feels like kicking a puppy when it’s down. It’s too easy to pick out the band’s ‘faults’ and waffle on about all their supposed ‘wrongs’ according to holier-than-thou indie types. Fuck it. What’s the point when it feels as though it’s the same pointless argument that’s been started and then re-hashed more times than anyone really cares to remember?  The truth is, ‘Konk’, an album referencing the Ray Davies’ owned studio where it was recorded, flat lines.

It’s that it’s an album that doesn’t even want a last throw of the dice let alone going out in a blaze of glory. As much as songs like the marginally irreverent and impotently raucous ‘Mr. Maker’ and ‘Do You Wanna’ try to shake off the ghosts of debut album 'Inside In/Inside Out', 'Konk' simply lies down and doesn’t wake up. It’s a quiet and painless way to go – a slow fade to black if you will.

That said, punk rock wouldn’t exist if there were no teenagers and in a similar sense neither would The Kooks. That means there will be a new generation of indie fans who will discover the Brighton quartet through 'Konk' and why not? Who is to criticise another for merely stating a personal like, dislike or preference when the angsty exuberance of ‘Down To The Market’ and ‘Always Where I Need To Be’ are indeed perfectly manicured pop songs?

There is just nothing to say other than the majority of 'Konk' sounds like 'Inside In/Inside Out' part II – it is what it is...blank, full-stop, white-rabbit. Music has become so homogenised and industry-inspired these days we demand much more from our artists. The fact that music is art makes us scratch far deeper beneath the surface than The Kooks have cared to with 'Konk'.