Kosheen – Damage – A Review

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Kosheen – Damage – A Review

By Jay Morey

Dance music slips in and out of favour as easily as the English football team. It’s either a cavalcade of samples and redundant copied beats, or a straight cover and mauling of old and recent classics. Mark Ronson anybody? Do we really need a soulless version of Alanis Morissette’s sublime Uninvited to be thrummed and beaten over?

But in the haze of a dying and derivative genre we find those who don’t mutilate dance, but use it as a very solid base for their music, they respect the lengths it can flesh out and add credence to their work. Portishead and Dirty Vegas are fine examples of dance oriented bands with their own lyrics and messages and style to get across, they’re not just faceless DJ’s wanting to make easy money for a baseless Ibiza nugget.

The best and most emotive of all dance acts are the amazing Kosheen.

Third album Damage sees singer Sian Evans use anger, guilt and emotional growth to support the thump and strength of the electronics and beats. First album Resist gave us Catch You and Hide U, strong tunes. Second album Kokopelli was less-well known but stronger with fine tracks such as Avalanche and Blue Eyed Boy. Damage offers us the string first single, Overkill, which uses the lyric, ‘Oh believe me, if I wanted to baby I would bury you…’ opening album track, Damage, is a lament about a failed relationship and her being the guilty party. Later track Guilty may be seen as a reply.

Kosheen’s strengths are Sian Evans extremely strong and soulful voice, Welsh roots she credits, and the complimentary layers of guitars and electronics, a grimy dance/rock. They’ve evolved from being faces in the crowd into established peers. Overall the album is a cathartic experience for the band, lost love and regrets-a-plenty. Later tracks do seem too much like filler unfortunately, trimming the album by two or three tracks would make the depth of the emotive thread running throughout much easier to handle, so more time could be spent appreciating the music.

A very grown-up collection, more subdued, but maybe just a tad self-indulgent. It should see Kosheen find their place high in the echelons of British dance unassailable, for now.