Listener loves 'Love to Give'

| Friday, September 07, 2007

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Review by Ruth Milne, Journal staff

From the catchy guitar lick that kicks off the first track, "Around the Heart," it's clear that Kory & the Fireflies have a lot to give on the Sioux Falls band's latest album, "Love to Give."

The band has a reputation of playing accessible, likeable pop-rock in the same vein as the Goo Goo Dolls, a band Kory & the Fireflies has toured with.

And their most recent album, released earlier this year, follows through with 11 solid songs packed with positive energy and upbeat music.

The album takes its title from the chorus of "Around the Heart" -- "She said everybody's got some love left to give/Everybody's got a lot more love they can give." And that line is representative of the overarching direction of this album; it's about loving, and giving, and loving some more.

Sometimes cheesy, but generally fun, the songwriting by handsome frontman Kory Van Sickle is as radio-friendly and relatable as ever.

You'll find a lot of "you" and "I" and "she" in the intimate, confessional lyrics. But the themes of love, pain, relationships and personal struggles are packaged in a nice rock format so you can listen to it and still look tough.

The entire CD is sun-drenched and summery. Even the lyrics give in to that glow: "The light of the morning finds you/It lands on your lips like I'd like to," Van Sickle sings in the mellow, romantic ballad "Gold like the Sun."

The surprising thing is, "Love to Give" doesn't take listeners somewhere they've never been.

Instead, it takes you to a place you have been and enjoyed -- somewhere familiar, nostalgic, the way you remember rock 'n' roll feeling when you were a teenager. It just feels good, like the first time you heard John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane."

At the same time, "Love to Give" isn't dated. Several songs feel fresh and new, especially "The Storm," which breaks new ground with a folk music-style storytelling format and moody, buzzing guitars.

The CD also features both a regular and an extended guitar-driven version of "What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?" penned by Nick Lowe and popularized by Elvis Costello. In the liner notes, the lyrics to that song simply read "... nothing."

It's that earnestness, that positive outlook that makes Kory & the Fireflies so fun to listen to.

On the Web:

www.myspace.com/koryandthefireflies.

www.koryandthefireflies.com