The Kooks are back with their highly anticipated album, ‘Junk of the Heart’, which picks up right where Konk left off and has a new ‘grown up’ or more mature sound. The opener and lead single ‘Junk of the Heart (Happy), is a fun upbeat tune and a typical Kooks intro into the album. Standout tracks include ‘Is It Me’ which is a signature upbeat Kooks song about a bad romance, Mr. Nice Guy, the album’s closer is a catchy song just about being wronged and how there isn’t going to be ‘ No more Mr. Nice Guy’ and lastly the ethereal ‘Time Above the Earth’, which seems to be about the search for life’s answers, or at least the time that is spent ‘above the earth’ was used pondering them. The Kooks expand on their signature sound and experiment to see how they can make it better, the before mentioned track ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ has some nice harmonies and electric elements seem to bring a fresh perspective to the album, Runaway has hints of Island/reggae elements and again those added harmonies that tie everything together. Lyrically we see the boys aren’t just writing songs about puppy love or being happy there seems to be some seriousness in the air, which is seen on tracks like ‘Is It Me’ (“Was it me, was It you, was it the times that we’re living through?”) and ‘Killing Me’ (“Cos I feel so cold without sun, Cos I’ve got one I can’t run from”). While there are a few tracks we tend to skip over after our 20th listen, but we’ll definitely be jamming to album through out the rest of the year. 

Junk of the Heart was released Via EMI Records September 13 2011 and is available on itunes now.