Twelve months on from their debut release Football Money, upbeat Canadians, Kiwi Jr have followed up with Cooler Returns, 13 tracks of similarly bright, post-punk indie-pop.
Upon the first listen, I am transported back to indie club nights in the mid noughties, where DJ sets struck the delicate balance between just enough guitar to be cool and just enough tempo to fill a dance floor. Cooler Returns toes the well trodden path somewhere between The Ramones and The Strokes, drawing on early punk sounds and pop sensibilities but swapping ire for dry wit. Kiwi Jr distinguish themselves by their obscure name, droll commentary and occasional harmonicas.
The album kicks off with a 2:05 minute piano infused college rock number that takes a rye look at a break up with "Tyler". Track 2 is the lead single from the album "Undecided Voters". I have no idea what Jeremy Gaudet is singing about here but there are some memorable sardonic one liners "...while I take photos of your photos and they really move people I know online..." And a chorus refrain of "undecided voters" that will no doubt be changed back to them in a live setting.
The musicianship throughout nods perhaps to Pavement or The Velvet Underground: simple but effective. The band find their swaggering peak on the title track, where the jagged bop of the verse flows into a sing-along chorus. At this point you realise that the words lackadaisically flowing from Gaudet are surreal comedy "...it's not fair to me, strung out on the back of your ATV, throwing dead birds into the air...".
Cooler Returns roams through themes of political satire, self deprecation and modern culture in a hard-to-follow stream of consciousness. The second half of the album never quite reaches the highs of the title track and could have been trimmed by a track or two. Still, it jogs along through a series of comic reflections on the personal circumstance (Nashville Wedding) and the world in 2020. In "Omaha" Kiwi Jr channel prevailing scepticism and conspiracy theory.
2020 could have felt like a false start for Kiwi Jr, but having created Cooler Returns, they kick off 2021 with 13 jangly tunes to pick from for a mid-afternoon festival set. The album responds to the events of the last 12 months with much welcomed humour. The album feels musically familiar but the repeated local references make this feel like a comedy routine written for the band and their friends and to which I'm left wondering whether or not I get the joke.
Review by Dan Ryan