Kungs’ new album lacks shameless excess

Valentin Brunel, aka Kungs, was a bit of a promise. In 2016, the French DJ and producer scored a number 1 hit in France, Belgium and Germany with This Kiss† It came in at number two in the UK singles charts and the nimble dance song entered the top ten with us. A debut album followed, layers with warm, simple yet charming songs-edm where each song was colored by guest vocalists. Brunel was allowed to open for star producer David Guetta on his European Listen tour, performances at dance festivals worldwide followed, and then there was corona. With Kung’s second album, the change of course is immediately noticeable. The mix of clubhouse and edm à la Avicii has been exchanged for Italodisco-house. It’s a shame that the vast majority of those songs have that idiom of synth melodies, blinking like fairground lights to the beat, but they also lack that shameless excess that happened in the original Italo. And then you also miss the guest vocalists who really gave Kung’s songs a face. Like you want to throw a vintage party but are too lazy to put any energy into it.