The Kooks – 10 Tracks To Echo In the Dark

Ever since they broke out in the late aughts, The Kooks have seesawed between catchy-but-simple pop songs and trying to do something more. Last record Let’s Go Sunshine (QRO review) swung back towards the simple, but the new 10 Tracks To Echo In the Dark goes for somewhere in between, but squarely on the dance floor.

The Kooks have employed the modern disco elements so popular these days, but perhaps never more so than with 10 Tracks, starting with opener “Connection”, where they do it best, infusing the dance song with emotion. And they can certainly do catchy & charming, such as “Oasis”. However, other pieces on the album hew closer to their more unremarkable ways, and the record as a whole doesn’t expand the sound.

Still, 10 Tracks nicely Echoes In the Dark, a party that isn’t just a party.