"Love Town" Review by Jason Gallagher
Kolohe Kai
"Love Town"
Review By Jason Gallagher
Kolohe Kai’s sophomore album “Love Town” is an easy listening mix of smooth reggae rhythm and simple lyricism. The young band, forming only in 2009 with some of the band members still being in high school, released one previous album titled “This is the Life”. This album also had a very similar island sound with, for the most part, the same message as well. A lot of the songs talk about young love and other stuff most of us thought about as kids, which is not surprising given the age of the group members. Kolohe Kai provides clean, genuine music that those of all ages can listen too. I must say, however, that there was little sound variety throughout the album. I found that after a few songs the melodies got fairly repetitive and their lyrics encompassed, for the most part, the same elements on the majority of the tracks.
The album kicks off with “Love Town” a track that, I think, really displays the phenomenal voice of front man Roman De Peralta. From the song title, it is not surprising that the song is about falling in love, which I found to be true for more than one track on the album. This leads into the next song “First True Love”, which has a quick and upbeat tempo, a refreshing change from the slower paced “Love Town”. Lyrically, however, I think that the song “Where I’m From” strayed most from the fairly homogeneous messages of the previous songs. It talks about, of course, the town where the band is from and why they love it so much. The song takes you through, what is essentially a paradise on the island of Hawaii with blue skies, palm trees, and what sounds like a carefree life. For three minutes and fifty eight seconds I’m no longer in a dimly lit living room, but rather on a sunny beach with white sand and a cool island breeze on my face. I can greatly appreciate this temporary escape from my stress filled, work saturated life into some place far more relaxing.
I would say, overall, that I enjoyed the “Love Town” album. For future reference I would hope they change up the content of their music a bit, but for the time being it was a nice and relaxing track list. If the band keeps up what they’re doing I believe it is only a matter of time before they blow up, especially with their music appealing to all ages. “Love Town” was definitely a solid album and I look forward to any future albums that may be on the way.
By Jason Gallagher
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