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The Kokoon:
Independent
When New Wave was new, was it called New Wave? Or First Wave? As it lingered on through too much hair and costuming (and not enough actual effort to make original music), did it simply become Wave? The reason I ask is this: can New Wave music in the contemporary music world still be called New Wave? Or, is there another word, emerging from its chrysalis after so many dormant years? The Kokoons Independent is like a time capsule, buried under the ground sometime in the mid-80s and left alone to ferment, to mature, to emerge 20 years later with a sound that can only be described as the evolution, the direct descendent of New Wave. The London-based duo of Danyx and Dirk, clad in matching pin-striped suits and flashy bright neon dress shirts, dapper black ties, and matching haircuts of blonde and brunette, bring their sense of solitude and alienation together with their sharp sense of style for a purely retro thrill. This is not to imply, however, that The Kokoon is any kind of gimmick act or contrivance. The very effort going into this album, all paid for and gruelingly pulled together by the duo itself, the very emotion injected into each track of the album, the sheer quality of musicianship throughout is a sign of the fact that The Kokoon wishes to be taken seriously. Danyx herself comes across as a modern day Annie Lennox (not to say that Ms. Lennox has passed so much as perhaps her career as a Eurythmic has), with the shrillest highs and the vibrating lows used to surgically tear apart the implied message of any lyric and stab it home with precision. The rest is a compilation of heavy and ever-present guitars, keyboards, drums and bass, mostly supplied by Dirk, producing the same low lows and shrill highs needed to evoke that danceable yet dark mood not seen anywhere outside the goth synthpop scene (and executed in a much les sinister, much more melodic, much softer and much less Dark like my soul kind of way). At times, the album lends itself to an IDM comparison. At other times, pure electronica. Still other times we get a sense of gothy synthpop or even a bit of Depeche Mode. And in the end, its almost as if a full branch of the evolutionary tree has been found. Kokoon learned lessons somewhere between New Wave and being European and combined them into something wholly likable AND intelligent. Simply put, this album is good, fun music for the synthesizer fan.
This album can be purchased at Glasswerk About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
