If pop has the ability to soften the testosterone growl and clichéd moves of rock, and the reciprocal gesture enables it to be imbued with a certain integrity and edge, then Channel K certainly fall into that pop-rock category. Some might argue that it is a sound born of compromise; I would argue that it is a sound born out of a perfect musical marriage, a complementary partnership that does some deft sonic balancing.

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I know that the world is a small place now and the fact that a band from Houston, a region that to my mind is more associated with Southern blues and outlaw country acts, should sound so…well, European, is just a sign of how connected and cross-referential the world is. But it is Old World blood which pumps through their New World sonic veins, more specifically North European and if I was going to come right down to it, there is a lot about them which reminds me of Roxette. Not the high gloss chart pop which they where best known for but the more sophisticated and measured album tracks which set them apart from their day-glo commercial rivals.

 

It is that same deep rooted sense of emotion and passion wrapped in pop hooks, the same rock urges being tempered by infectious melody that you seem not to find in many contemporary artists in this field, that makes them stand out. An ability to thread the organic sounds and earthy grooves of the rock genre with a more synth infused melodicism, that darker edge on tracks like Temptation and the fact that they make a sound which is very much of the now by blending past sounds with future sound exploration. It seems such an easy thing to do on paper but if it was that simple why do I have to look back to a band from the nineties to measure their song writing prowess against?