Until recently Nashville's Kings Of Leon seemed to be in competition with Jet to see who could look the most bedraggled and in need of a good wash – with their dragged-through-a-hedge-backwards sight of ripped t-shirts, drainpipe jeans, ridiculously long hair and dodgy beards they came damn close to winning too. 

Fret not, ladies, as in celebration of their forthcoming second album Ah Ha Shake Heartbreak, the beards have gone and the hair is short.  Yep, now they just look like clean-shaven products of a particularly evil redneck-inbreeding programme. 

Taking aside the redneck stereotype, the Kings know their way around a tune.  Last year’s debut Youth & Young Manhood was a big success story, selling over half a million copies, with the single ‘Molly’s Chambers’ nailed permanently to play lists of radio stations around the country.  The success was a bit of a mystery given their sound isn't particularly new – really just a scuzzy sounding, southern fried update of the Rolling Stones with Caleb Followhill's weary country drawl replacing Mick Jagger – but the songs on Youth were catchy and consistently excellent, executed with an enthusiasm found lacking in a lot of similar bands.

'The Bucket', the first single from the second album, is illustrative of a more pared down sound.  The new album was recorded live on analogue equipment and it shows, with guitars sounding clearer and more relaxed than before.  Sonically it's a brighter relative of 'California Waiting', with a chiming riff, thumping drums and a typically weary delivery from lead singer Caleb.  It's as good as anything on Youth & Young Manhood and while not commercial sounding enough to do much as a single, as a taster for the new album it definitely whets the appetite. 

(4/5)

The Bucket