The Kooks - 'Shine On'
Music, as we know, is a massively subjective thing. The same song never hits different people in quite the same way. That said, some songs seem to be perfect for every occasion, and some only work if they just happen to come on the radio just at the point at which something sympathetic is happening for the listener. Then there are songs which don't work at all, no matter what, and songs which can actually kill the moment, even if it's a really good one.
So the trick for an aspiring songwriter is to try and come up with something which perfectly matches a specific mood, or something which can stop most listeners in their tracks and take them to the mood you've created for them.
The Kooks get a lot of grief from passionate music fans - and grumpy journos - for making music which seems to be deliberately aiming itself at people's happy, summer holiday moments. Their songs are always accused of being eager to please, like Luke Kook is still trying to get high marks in Quality Songsmithery from his old Brits School teachers, and as a band, they never really stray too far from a very well-worn palate of sounds.
They use battered old guitars, lovely warm old valve amps, a trusted acoustic. If Kooks songs use keyboards, it'll be a Hammond organ, or a Mellotron (that flute noise that runs through this song), but nothing as vulgar as a synth, unless it's a classic MiniMoog or something cool like that.
This is kind of annoying, in the way that people who refuse to own a mobile phone or use the internet are kind of annoying, even if their arguments are perfectly understandable when you stop and think about it. And Luke's occasional lyrical terribleness (he should get a detention for "about your hair you needn't care, you're beautiful all the time") doesn't really help matters.
But if you should find yourself on a bus ride to somewhere exciting, and the sun is shining, your heart is light, full of optimism, and it just feels sort of tingly-nice to be alive...'Shine On' will make total sense.
Actually, almost any Kooks song would be OK, they're pretty much interchangeable, right? They're a bit like the indentical twins that you can only tell apart if they stand next to each other.
Maybe we should set Luke a new writing assignment - 'Songs For Unsunny Days'? Or 'Songs Which Sound A Bit More Like Girls Aloud'? Ooh! How about 'Songs Which Contain No Lyrical Dreadfulness'?
And we could offer extra house points as an incentive. He'd be a fool to turn it down
Download: Out now
CD Released: July 7th
(Fraser McAlpine)
PS: predicts tough times for the Kooks ahead, if Luke's bad behaviour doesn't stop soon.
ChartBlog says: Bring Back The Birch!
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