Kicks by 1990s
Rough Trade



Once, it was the Swedish pop scene where this reviewer would snag up anything that cropped up from but more and more, my eyes and ears are turning on Glaswegian bands. 1990s are a great success story—they were discovered in record time, but in listening to Kicks one wonders if they may have benefited from a little more time to discover themselves.

This is not to say the album isn't an enjoyable listen, it simply lacks an element of consistency and certainty. The artists switch back and forth between a sort of garage rock play style and back into a fun britpop sound with no warning between tracks. One could defend the diversity of their sound, but the lack of any logical progression in between suggests that it wasn't intentional, and doesn’t find support in artistic voice.

The trio's vocals can really shine and their harmonies work very well with their fun, witty lyrics that dance playfully along the course of the album. ‘Giddy Up’ in particular had me smiling at the words with amusement. There is a lot of amusement and they have a lot of room to grow into whatever sound they want to focus on.

REVIEWED BY RAIN PLETCHER