Stereophonics
No rest required ahead of their revved up twelfth studio album.
Given the circumstances, Sterephonics have done well to even come close to keeping up their customary work rate of an album every other year. And given the fact that frontman Kelly Jones had a solo record out last year, we can surely cut them a few months’ slack when appraising Oochya!, their follow-up to 2019’s Kind. And it’s to their credit that, 25 years on from their debut, they still sound like they’ve got itches to scratch.
Jones promised this would be a more upbeat album than its predecessor, and it certainly starts out that way when lead-off single an irresistible hard rocker built around bluesy, Billy Gibbons-ish fuzz-guitar riffs, opens proceedings. It’s as if the band are keen to prove they’ve still got the same gnarly bit between their teeth that they had when they were a teenage three-piece. But further in there are mellower charms that will better suit the Radio 2-listening sections of their fans, for better or worse. has the kind of soaring, escapist rush of a, a sentimental country-rock ballad, has Jones delving into his personal back story, touching on the beautiful word serendipity’ of getting the band together and meeting his wife.
