As presaged by a run of singles earlier this year including the title track, Koko-Jean & The Tonics’ second album Love Child dropped recently. It’s a twelve-tracker that finds the Barcelona-based outfit deliver a second helping from their repertoire of funk, soul and sixties-style R&B with a mix of both dancefloor heaters and torch songs. The amount of slowies is about the same as on debut Shaken & Stirred and can be found in the smouldering Never Ever and I Can’t Stand You while there’s possibly a more overtly funky influence in some of the dancefloor material. This is to be found on the jangly Hey You, the Stevie Wonder-ish rhythm of Gonna Be A Party Tonight and the shuffling syncopation of Holding Tight To You though the latter, unusually, features vocals from one of the male band members (doing a very serviceable turn on the mic!) and not Koko-Jean. You can also hear the band head in a more northern soul direction with the stomping title track which actually name checks Motown, while Take Me One More Time is an overtly bluesy effort. The lion’s share of the dancefloor material however is still most heavily influenced by sixties R&B which has been a feature of Koko-Jean Davis’s career since at least the start of her time with previous band The Excitements – check classic sixties-style ‘song named after a dance craze that you do to just that song’ The Spin and Too Good To Be True for the best examples.
(Out now on Buenritmo)