ALBUM REVIEW: Home – KOJ

Dark electro inspred pop-rock trio KOJ release their debut record Home. The unique dynamic of husband and wife, and two brothers makes this three piece’s music a real experience of personal relationships and unbridled honesty. But, will that amount to an experience that transcends to listeners?

Opening with beautiful ambient strings and synth overlays, Stars enters as an understated musing into the cerebral. It has the expansiveness of shoegaze, but with the focus and gloss of a dark, thematic pop song, the distorting synths, the leading guitars sprinkling in tone and guiding the direction.

Conversely, while Stars felt optimistic, title track Home has a much more sinister edge from the off. The droning of the synth and the pulling of the notes, dragging over the clean and snapping guitars is more aggressive for sure. When the chorus kicks in, after the promise of something catchy and angry coming through the verse, it doesn’t disappoint. Pamela has so much texture through its production it’s an instant head turner. The keys, the layers of synth, the subtle push and release of the chilled-out melody, which relies more on the electronic side of the band than the previous couple of tracks. That’s only to its benefit, as a piece that plays with the intertwining of what the music makes you feel and Alina’s vocals, that bring a weight to it all.

KOJ have a wonderful way of playing through some very understates melodies, and creating something huge you really weren’t expecting. Jenny begins as a snappy but chilled song that steers you to listen to the lyrics, and gradually becomes this outburst of emotion by it’s middle, before simmering back into a sorrowful, complicated emotional battering in its final third. There’s the fuzz of the bass that adds the real kick behind the calling out of the keys and the consistency of the drums which rounds the whole thing to complete satisfaction.

Human Love has the dragged and daunting feeling of old-school synth that was prevalent within the Stranger Things soundtrack in its darker moments. In much a similar way, the whole track has a sense of nostalgia or at least a looking back with bittersweet and regretful eyes. Lyrically, it’s filled with beautiful imagery and haunting ideas- as is the rest of this record in fairness. Every song on Home feels completely fresh from the others, and Thunder is no different. There are instances where things feel clean and full of wonder, and then the more dance influenced guitars and beats come in. This is one for repeat listens for sure, as there’s so much to unpack. Everyone is on the top of their game here, writing solid lyrics and combining that with tight instrumentation and well-crafted use of modulation to convey just the right kind of static into the mix, all bundled around beautiful vocals.

Unquestionably the darkest song on this record, Unscarred is sparse and mean in its introduction, and before you know it, you’ve been led into the darkness, into the dripping, ticking 4/4, the menacing drums and threatening, understated bass and the unconcerned humming. It blooms into areas you’d never expect, and under the guise of things sounding more uplifting, it merely twists with a knowing sense of massive dread, and batters you down under its ambient weight; This is one that promises to leave a mark.

Bringing things down to a much sadder but more subdued place, Scarlett optimises a much more intimate space, the feeling of heartbreak and loss and loneliness much more laid bare than ever before on this record. It’s the mulling over of that sadness that brims over into a wave of sound, a real musing on the heaviness of the lyrics, before swooping it all away in it’s final seconds. The audible effect is undeniable and so effective, a really powerful final song. Our Outro here is a truly sparse, sombre ending for this grave record. The dull piano keys ring through to create a atmosphere, leaving you just as contemplative.

At surface level, this is a dark and glossy synth-pop album that really knows how to capture something visceral out of its catchy melodies. However, Home is a much, much bigger beast than that, and has sentiment and character in heaps. It’s emotional, it’s honest, and passionate and as a debut you couldn’t ask for something more moving and heartfelt.

Rating: 8/10

Home is set for release on August 21st via Long Branch Records.

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