The Koreans - 'The Koreans' (Storm Music)
3/5
By: Lauren Gallagher
Despite the predictions, the esteem of electro-rock has yet to cease. The Killers, Radio 4's 'Stealing of a Nation', Kasabian, LCD Soundsystem... It goes on.
Dancefloor-friendly, synth-happy rock appears to be the order of the day. And with three out of four band members playing keyboards, one is afraid The Koreans will sound like Chikinki times four. Luckily, for their self-titled debut they choose a balanced take of keys versus guitars, and remain considered, restrained in their knack; never too disco, nor overtly rawk.
Third single 'Still Strung Out' opens like Four Tet, until the guitar comes in, and 'Help!'-era Beatles harmonies take over in swaths. 'Slow Motion' and 'Drawn Away' drone on in bouts of gloomy introspection, while 'Talking To Myself' sounds like, well, someone talking to themselves in hushed whispers above sparse, eerie blips.
'Broken Spell', meanwhile, is positively hypnotic, with distant vocals, throbbing beats, and, like the entire affair, proves nothing less than seductive. And as a full work, one can hear The Koreans growing into their own, developing and experimenting, like confused kids throwing all their favorite ingredients into their new smoothie machine. May The Koreans one day produce the perfect electrorock smoothie of sorts.
Artists in this article: The Koreans
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