The Kooks

With scant few exceptions, musicians from this country who feign a British accent end up sounding like utter dipshits. Brits, meanwhile, who legitimately possess a Cockney inflection by birthright, often sound middle-American when they sing. It’s a truly puzzling phenomenon. You have to listen really closely to detect even the slightest hint of their origins. Makes you wonder if it’s a conscious effort on their part to mask where they come from to appeal to a broader audience, or if they’re just unconsciously mimicking the artists they heard growing up from the other side of the pond. With the Kooks, whose funtastic jingle-jangle evokes the Strokes covering lost Kinks tunes, you get the sense that these blokes gave about as much consideration to this whole notion as Amy Winehouse has to cleaning up her act. Hmm…guys from the U.K. who actually sound British? Well, now, that’s kinda kooky, in’it?