91Èȱ¬

Now I know no one likes to talk about 'NaÑ—ve' anymore because it turned out the Evil Record Company made it good and so we'd all lose our credibility if we liked it but the fact remains that none of their other singles have included lines easily mishearable as 'I know she knows that I'm not fond of Absinthe' so even if they are more what the band would have wanted you have to feel a bit as though maybe the record company had the right end of the stick there. Not to mention it's probably made the band absolutely pots of cash by appearing on every indie compilation made in the last three years.

The pots of cash made by this song will allow them to record other songs more to their liking and bring their genuine art to the public. So it's actually ok to like 'NaÑ—ve' after all, which is a good job since in a rather unusual move, having pretended their biggest hit didn't happen for awhile, The Kooks appear to be releasing it again:

No, I know, that doesn't actually sound exactly like ‘Naїve.’ I know that. It actually sounds much more like 'She Moves In Her Own Way' or in fact virtually anything by Supergrass but the point is that that is not the sound of a band being srs artistz, that is the sound of a band writing a damned good, if faintly vacuous, pop song. Man From The Kooks' voice is still very strange in a sort of whooping way but an interesting voice isn't an obstacle to a blockbusting popstar career and the 'doo, doo, doo doo doo doo doo' bits situate it firmly in the genre of Mainstream. Sorry Indie, this is what happens when you date Kate Nash.

The problem with making indie-pop'n'rock in the post-Britpop world is that either you have to be obnoxiously jaunty, under the mistaken impression that this was The Point Of Blur or you have to try and be Poets Of The Real People under the (probably) mistaken impression that this is what 'Wonderwall' was about, although admitedly Oasis may have thought that, too.

The wonderful thing about The Kooks (when they're being good, anyway, which is to say this and 'NaÑ—ve') is that they manage to combine obnoxiously jaunty with SRS LYRICAL BSNS and thus create music which takes itself just seriously enough to not leave you wondering if the smug levels in the studio were just very wrong for that track and not so seriously that they just scowl in all their videos and have no melodies. That's only allowed if you're Norwegian and paint your face like a badger.

This track is about a girl, which is often a good premise for a song. Man From The Kooks thought it'd all work out, cus sometimes it just seems that way but it turned out not to be the way this time. That's basically how it goes, then there's a slightly whimsical attempt at a guitar solo and a bit of masculine self-hatred and you're done.

The whole thing only lasts two minutes forty, which is about the right length of time to have you starting to think it's catchy and not so long that you start to think it's bloody annoying; a little slice of perfectly balanced pop to keep you going until some great big meaty musical lunch comes along.

Download: Out now
CD Released: March 31st

(Hazel Robinson)