Cooler Returns

Songs such as Maid Marian’s Toast are both clever, easy-going and gilded with just the right amount of feedback and mouth organ.

With Cooler Returns, Kiwi Jr. remains suspended in an alternate reality where it's always the last day of undergrad classes and a group of bookish housemates is hanging on a front porch waiting for a party to start around them. The sophomore semester moves with a little more intention and nuance than the freshman year did, but the year-end celebration is no less of a blast.

Cooler Returns proves Kiwi Jr have the skills to match their smarts. [Feb 2021, p.86]

‘Cooler Returns’ displays a keen eye for observation – both grand and quaint – as its myriad of tracks cohere together through a bond of musical influences old and new to form an album that’s invitingly optimistic, while also displaying intricacy and craftiness in abundance.

If ‘Football Money’ was a full-hearted paean to the likes of Pavement and Archers of Loaf, then ‘Cooler Returns’ is the sound of Kiwi Jr moving forwards, planting their own flag in the power-pop ground.

The real fun of Cooler Returns, though, lies in the clever details that you might never understand, no matter how many times you listen.

What sets Kiwi Jr. apart from their peers though is their madcap view of the world and Cooler Returns establishes them as a band too confident to conform; a band who have all the skills to match their lyrical smarts.

Cooler Returns plays out best if you go with its flow. Musical flourishes, references, and inspirations abound, but if you let yourself get lost in it, there is a lot to enjoy and not too much to worry about.

What Cooler Returns lacks in heft it makes up for with unadulterated kicks.

By referencing the past—both their own and the back catalogues of such great artists as Sebadoh, Yo La Tengo, and Guided By Voices—it has resulted in another mighty fine record. Just don’t expect anything original and it’s easy to enjoy.

Jeremy Gaudet's Jonathan Richman-esque speak-sung tones breathe life into protagonists widescreen-daydreaming their way out of drudgery. [Feb 2021, p.29]