Hate to love them, or love to hate them: it's doubtful that Brighton's Kooks care either way. Their debut album 'Inside In/Inside Out' has sold over 1 million copies to date since its 2006 release - so critical acclaim or no, they've justified their existence to their record company. Its success also meant that album #2 was quickly bankrolled for the young quartet but Konk - named after the London studio in which it was recorded (proprietor: Mr. Ray Davies Esq.) - treads no new ground for the Luke Pritchard-led band.

Perhaps it's down to the fact that the majority of 'Inside In/Inside Out' was written long before it was recorded (Naïve, for example, when Pritchard was just 16) or perhaps it's simply that The Kooks are one-trick-ponies; but what initially set them apart from their peers - their ability to write short, snappy pop songs with minimal cheese and a mass appeal - has become their downfall here.

The fact that lead single Always Where I Need to Be is the standout track is the first warning sign. An inoffensive pop-rock tune that sounds like the B-side to one of their initial hits doesn't augur well for developmental aspirations, and it's unfortunately representative of most of the album. What The Kooks do well, they do extremely well - spot-on harmonies on the jangly, uptempo tracks, for one; what they do badly is made all the more glaringly obvious on Konk (Pritchard stoops to partially reciting the alphabet on stripped-back acoustic number One Last Time).

Downbeat pout of a ballad Sway, with its big, elated chorus, marks the turning point of an album that starts poorly and ends worse. Whether The Kooks have the longevity to claw back the magic that was hinted at on their debut is something that only time will tell; but on this basis, I wouldn't count on it.

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