Young Dublin quartet Kodaline hit commercial paydirt with their 2013 debut, In a Perfect World, and haven’t changed a winning formula. Their songs are still almost mathematically placed between Coldplay and Snow Patrol, with a smidgeon of U2 and the sort of big choruses and bells-and-whistles-and-choirboys production once trademarked by Westlife. If anything, Kodaline sound even bigger: vocalist Steve Garrigan sounds on the edge of a good cry, lyrical cliches strain for profundity (“You’ve gotta be tough if you wanna survive”) and producer Jacknife Lee has put them in an even larger wind tunnel than before. Human Again and Play the Game shift gear slightly, going for INXS/Bon Jovi-style brooding big rock. Still, if you’re after epic but slightly teary singalongs that tell you that you can’t hide this feeling, they are undoubtedly your men. There’s genuine emotion in the lovely, piano-led Everything Works Out in the End, which – like Snow Patrol’s Run – is the sort of song to give a troubled soul something to cling to.
