For some time Cool Sounds has been our go-to band for brightly colored soft rock with a good dose of jangle. However, they don't stay in a single lane and in prior releases they have flavored the compositions with dream pop, country and indie pop. In Like That, their new album, the core of soft rock remains, but the band has added some glam to the proceedings. Now, this isn't a sea change because Cool Sounds' songs have always seemed to have a propulsive swagger and sparkly polish. But the glam element pushes to the front edge here and, to our satisfied ears, is a delightfully fresh addition. As often is the case for Cool Sounds a lot of sonic details are packed into the songs (including horns), as well as plenty of whimsey and humor. But it all is in service of a good song and, we suggest, some very danceable tunes.The main man of Cool Sounds is Dainis Lacey, who writes and sings the songs and, for Like That, played nearly all of the instruments. But he draws on talented friends such as Ambrin Hasnain, Dylan Young and Pierce Morton to round out the proceedings. In our view Lacey is a very talented musical cook and on this album he got the glam, the bounce, the melodies and all of the other ingredients just right. It is a very enjoyable set of songs and is available now via Chapter Music.
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