Coming Up for Air

Photographer: John Lindquist.
Acting as the Coldplay to Coldplay's U2, the Dublin quartet Kodaline specialize in the school boy sincerity of Chris Martin's crew. On their second album, Coming Up for Air, they swap the quiet adventure of Coldplay's albums with Eno for an on-the-nose mawkishness that reaches a pinnacle on "Unclear," when their anthemic chorus is underscored by a children's choir. Not everything on Coming Up for Air is slow -- "Unclear" is bookended by "Human Again" and "Lost," the two songs that have some fuzz and pulse -- but it feels as if this is as calm as a placid lake. Sometimes, the record is as pretty as that, too, a nice, polite collection of adult alternative pop. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine