Alternative rock-duo, The Kools has delivered greatness again with their new album, Rat Race. With the riffs and vocals tuned into a cynical funk frequency, the duo has outdone themselves with this EP of simple and elegant compositions. So let’s get into it!
Mushrooming riffs and marching beats dominate the first track of the album, The Stain. The outfit is carefully tailored with repeating musical patterns that have fresh vocal accents. Streaming guitar harmonies snake through the soundscape. Its tight lines resonate with a defiant quest for liberation and emancipation. Face Your Fear is a movement. The fuzzy riffs blaze with a smoky funk rhythm. Its heat simmers under the vocals with a purposeful disillusion. And the vocal style and impact are reminiscent of Blondie’s Debbie Harry.
Dance with Me is the third song of the album. Sturdy and meaty bricks of riffs build the track into a house of bizarre romance. The vocals sweep the track with a wacky sensuality that is incredibly alluring. It bounces off the fuzzy walls of warm riffs and lifts off gracefully in a mystifying spiral. Mad Obsession is a compelling outlier. The intensity of the song’s theme emerges from the delinquent quality of the vocals, amplified by the loyal blocks of riffs. With a masterful composition, the band brings out the turbulent essence of obsession emphatically. The rhythm and tempo dilate the hysteria to expose the eternity of madness.
The next song is When I Was in Your Arms. With lighter pitches and fresher tones, the track is an acoustic stage. The sweet vocals gayly slow dance with the guitar melodies, twirling with melancholy. Looping riffs drill the melancholy into a lamenting sadness. From this point, the song slowly escalates into a frenzy clad in delicate robes. They unfurl with an earth-shattering tragedy and dramatically bleed into the riffs.
Concluding the album, we have the title track, Rat Race. The open riffs are pregnant with preparation and anticipation before breaking into a slow run. The vocals rise and fall within the basslines, floating through the riffs with airy tangents. As the track unfolds, we see tumbling riffs intensifying the canvas with a gripping tension that has us holding our breath in awe.
Available on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music!
Listen to Rat Race by The Kools here –
