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Review: 'KOPECKY'
'Drug For The Modern Age'   

-  Label: 'ATO Records'
-  Genre: 'Pop' -  Release Date: '8th June 2015'

Our Rating:
You would not expect songs about death, divorce and addiction to be particularly buoyant and optimistic but this is the strange-but-true paradox you encounter with Kopecky's sophomore release.

The Nashville-based six-piece used to be called the Kopecky Family Band despite the lack of blood bonds between founder members Kelsey Kopecky (vocals, keyboard, bass) and Gabe Simon (vocals, guitars, horns).

"Our famly is the band" explains Kelsey and she has spoken of the group as a support network that sticks together through thick and thin. Nevertheless, a pragmatic decision to streamline the name was taken to avoid being mistaken for a Bluegrass act.

Radio friendly pop is what they do best through homely harmonies, catchy melodies and danceable rhythms.

While the 2012 debut album - ‘Kids Raising Kids’ - was conceived on the road this record was mostly written at home and allegedly taps into a broader emotional template.

“The album was written in this weird time of so much pain but also happiness” says Simon. Yet, although the new songs purport to explore life-altering events, they are also written with a view to standing triumphantly and dancing defiantly through the hard times. As a result, any fears and heartbreaks are glossed over rather than dwelled upon.

So, while Closed Doors finds Kelsey Kopecky "Staring at the ceiling, looking for a meaning", what strikes you most is how this dreamy, 'where did we go wrong', ballad would make an ideal save-the-last-dance-for me number.

Equally, songs like Thrill Of Passion, Burnin' and the title track may be full of moody intent but actually do little more than paying lip service to the destructive nature of addiction.

The band are more at home with the breezier, live for the moment, affirmations of Die Young or on the single, Quarterback, a cheery tongue-in-cheek tune about a guy getting a girl by claiming to be a jock.

All told, this is easy listening pop music, no more, no less. Any claims of being deep and edgy should be taken with a large pinch of salt.



Kopecky's website
  author: Martin Raybould

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KOPECKY - Drug For The Modern Age