Kiwi jr. - Cooler Returns Review

On Cooler Returns, Kiwi jr. fall sadly short due to their lack of energy and often-monotonous songwriting.

Kiwi jr. return with their sophomore album Cooler Returns and first release with legendary label Sub Pop. Their first album seemed to capitalise on the success of bands like Parquet Courts, Bodega and The Nude Party. Consisting of Jeremy Gaudet, Mike Walker, Brohan Moore and Brian Murphy (who shares his time between Kiwi jr. and Alvvays) this record sees the band expand their arrangements with acoustic guitars, harmonica and piano.

‘Tyler’ kicks off the record and displays lead singer Jeremy Gaudet’s raspy vocal croons. Gaudet’s lyricism is at it’s best here. The track is filled with fun one liners but also has Gaudet at his most emotionally present, seemingly sounding distressed, almost sombre, in his delivery. However, ’Undecided Voters’ is where this album takes a hard nosedive. The melody is one of the most uninspiring things I’ve ever heard. The dull repetitive chorus is irritating at best. How an artist can sing about politics or ‘undecided voters’ with such milquetoast delivery is genuinely beyond me.

Unfortunately this continues, as the following tracks seem to follow a similar suit. ‘Maid Marian's Toast’ is yet another track that feels void of anything that truly grabs the listener. If the production was lusher on this record it might have given the instruments some much-needed extra depth. At least there’s a quaint catchiness to ‘Highlights Of 100’ that harks back to the simple riffs of obvious influence The Strokes.  The last minute of this track is an ever building, muddily mixed crescendo of scratchy sounding instruments piling on top of one another.

‘Only Here for a Haircut’ is one of the better tracks on the album. There’s something authentic and genuine in this song that doesn’t seem to come across in the aforementioned tracks. However, this is regrettably another victim of bad production. Rarely does it feel the instruments on this album have the space they need to breathe.

At about the halfway mark the album starts to pick up a tiny bit. The cool driving guitar riffs and laid-back slacker vibe pays off most on title track ‘Cooler Returns’. The guitars towards the end of the track wailing in and out with each other are one of the strongest moments on the album and beg the question: where’s this energy on the rest of the tracks?

Lyrically, this album is all over the place. Seemingly commenting on just about anything that’s observable — yet seemingly never vocalising anything meaningful — all it really brings is a sarcastic delivery. There’s a pointless aloofness in this music which carries minimal meaning. A lot of Gaudet’s societal criticism or mere observations seem to hold no resonant message at all. The tedious nature of many of these tracks is due to the uninspiring lyrics and delivery.  

‘Waiting in Line’ is the last track on the record. This one seems to have more energy than most so makes a welcome ending. Unfortunately, as the album closes you’re left to ask what you’ve just listened to. For an album that’s 36 minutes, it’s surprising how gruelling this record actually is. I love the artwork for this album and the general aesthetic of Kiwi jr. However, once you start to strip the band of that, and examine the album and songs for what they actually are, you’re left with an inescapable sense of dullness.  

These songs feel like they would have felt stale in the 70s let alone the 2020s. Adding some pianos, harmonicas and acoustic guitars may show off the artist’s musicianship but, if the melodies are this generic and the production is this average, it’s completely pointless. What’s genuinely upsetting about this record is that it has all the staples of good indie rock music. But I wonder, is that part of the problem here too? Regardless, there’s a distinct mediocrity flowing through this album. I’m hard pressed to think of a time where this album may have felt fresh or even relevant. On Cooler Returns, Kiwi jr. fall sadly short due to their lack of energy and often-monotonous songwriting.