Album Review: Kora - Light Years

To the band and many of their fans, Light Years may seem like a natural progression from Kora's groove-infused debut, but there will no doubt be many who are confused by the R&B flavour of their latest offering. The album's title aptly describes the journey Kora are taking listeners on, and opening track Little Stars sets the tone with its space-age groove. It immediately evokes NERD and much of Light Years features more similarities.

The starry samples work best on songs like Last Generation. Said tune has a very soundtrack-like feel with a laid-back style and probably comes closest to an old-school Kora sound. The highlight of the album is stand-out single Dream Life, which is quirky, extremely catchy and very easy to listen to. The rest of the songs on the album use the Kora brothers' harmonies exceptionally well in a classic R&B sound, but the love theme can sometimes feel a little one-dimensional.

Light Years definitely achieves the cohesive feel the band were going for but much of the mellow dub sounds that were so strong on their previous work have been put aside for a lighter synth-based vibe. This leaves the album feeling as if it is lacking in depth at times and it is hard not to miss the strong, organic sound of their previous work. Kora claim to have found their real sound and you can't argue with a band being true to themselves. As they sing on Last Generation, “I'd rather be hated for being myself than loved for being someone else”.