Cocos Lovers – Johannes
There’s an unquestionably familial feel to their debut album, rendering Johannes more of a songs-around-the-campfire piece
Kent’s Cocos Lovers' sound is imbibed with a history of traditional, rustic English folk, purely distilled, with scarcely a hint of the alternative slant found in so many new folk acts. Comprised of family members and friends, there’s an unquestionably familial feel to their debut album, and it’s perhaps this make-up which has led them to veer from the darker edge of folk, rendering Johannes more of a songs-around-the-campfire piece.
Their closest contemporary parallel runs with such acts as Noah and the Whale, and it’s when they dare to modernise their sound that the rich, multi-instrumental textures of Johannes work best. In fact, album opener Time to Stand; one would assume unintentionally; smirks with Vampire Weekend’s smart-arsed, genre-tilting wonder, providing a fine introduction, though also a zenith from which the album slowly slides into relative mediocrity, and something of a niche market. [Paul Neeson]