New Vibrations - The Kooks

The Kooks may have been overshadowed by their similarly-styled friends from across the pond. They've toured with Ireland-bred The Thrills and released albums on the heels of the Arctic Monkeys.

But the Kooks are an entirely different mash-up of singing men with accents.

If you like the aforementioned bands, then I would recommend delving into the repertoire of the Kooks simply based on that.

Their signature style includes catchy hooks, raunchy lyrics disguised in pop power chords and whistle-friendly melodies.

While some of us here in America may have missed the gems from their debut album, Inside In/Inside Out, several of the songs had chart success as singles ("Naive," "She Moves in Her Own Way" and "Ooh La" among my favorites).

Okay, so maybe The Rolling Stone heard of them. And maybe the magazine gave them a less than stellar review after they broke onto the scene. But Britpop with Brighton accents may not be for everyone.

Their sophomore album Konk featured the departure of bassist Mark Rafferty and the introduction of more rock into their pop (pop-rock as some call it). Konk was a little disappointing other than the single "Always Where I Need to Be."

Their third attempt is Junk of the Heart, whose individual tracks embody the album's name.  

The plucky sounds of pop immediately give each song a carefree sound, but upon further exploration are a little deeper than the Kooks want you to think. The first single from the album, "Is It Me," is reminiscent of Inside In/Inside Out days.

That's not immediately clear, however, as the song starts out on a slow note; the percussion seems to be the only thing keeping us moving forward in time.

The album has a similar trajectory; there are the powerful pop ballads ("Killing Me") and the slower, dare we say introspective tunes ("Petulia"). The album wavers between songs that are peppy and those with a more melancholy tinge. Though, this is the Kooks, so take the adjective "melancholy" with a grain of salt.

Heavy keyboard influence is heard in "Mr. Nice Guy" an ode to the titular cliché. Frontman Luke Pritchard croons, "Don't believe in things that don't believe in you/ All the things that you do will come back on you."

The Kooks like their characters ("Eddie's Gun," "Mr. Maker") and it's nice to see they've retained a similar song-writing approach.

Among the best from the album is the title track, "Junk of the Heart (Happy)." "I want to make you happy," Pritchard repeats. This seems to be a sentiment of all Kooks tunes.

Even if the sentiment is that of unrequited love, listeners can't help but be caught up in the intoxicating melody that the band plays for them. "F*** the World Off," is of equal quality. It's romantic and a little bit vulgar (quite like "Jackie Big Tits").

And we don't even need to talk about the swoonworthy-ness of "Eskimo Kiss."

We see, again, The Kooks still trying to wrap their electric guitars and drum kits around what genre they most want to be.

There's a little rock and pop and more specifically 60s Britpop. Heavy-ska influences from their debut and heavier rock sounds from their sophomore attempt are less present here — as long as you don't count the uncharacteristic guitar solo in "How'd You Like That."

The Kooks lack a cohesiveness of more polished bands. There is certainly more for them to learn in their venture to be bigger and better than the Arctic Monkeys.

But there is also a fresh-faced nature to their songs that almost redeems their other shortcomings.

If a band can make you happy, then I consider it a success. And that's one thing the Kooks are certainly good for.