Cooler Returns

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Kiwi Jr.'s 2019 debut, Football Money, was a long-labored triumph of intellectual slacker pop, burying nods to obscure influences under a whirlwind of bounding hooks. The brief alb um from the Toronto quartet flew by in a dazzled rush, with the energy of the first Modern Lovers' record juxtaposed with lazy, Pavement-esque melodies and lyrical barrages that were stuffed to capacity with esoteric references and culture-jamming imagery. Sophomore album Cooler Returns is much the same, but feels ever so slightly more refined, allowing the band's unique stew of influences and reference points a little more room to gel. The band's knack for simple but sticky melody is in even clearer view on Cooler Returns, with tracks like "Highlights of 100" and "Norma Jean's Jacket" built on familiar chord changes and winding, insistent vocal lines. "Undecided Voters" is a particularly jangly moment, with obtuse, shifting verses that funnel into a stompy, straightforward chorus somewhere between Ramones-esque simplicity, glam theatricality, and cheerleader chant levels of energy. What's different on this album is Kiwi Jr.'s pacing, which takes a little more time to get the songs where they're going and feels less anxious to move from one hook to the next. The instrumentation also expands past standard rock fare on Cooler Returns, with many songs layering countermelodies played on harmonica or dropping unexpected instruments into the mix. This happens more as the album goes on, with "Nashville Wedding" bringing in understated bits of piano, high-strung acoustic guitars, and handclaps, and "Dodger" welcoming what sounds like mandolin and xylophone plinks to join the rock instrumentation that anchors the song. In moments like "Dodger," Cooler Returns takes on a Let It Be feel, where the songs are still the main focus but get sprinkled with enough interesting production extras to take them to new places. Kiwi Jr.'s reluctant maturation on Cooler Returns is subtle, and all of their moderate moves forward are overwhelmed by their resilient melodies and complex songwriting architecture. With Cooler Returns, Kiwi Jr. remains suspended in an alternate reality where it's always the last day of undergrad classes and a group of bookish housemates is hanging on a front porch waiting for a party to start around them. The sophomore semester moves with a little more intention and nuance than the freshman year did, but the year-end celebration is no less of a blast. ~ Fred Thomas Show more