Krooked Kings, producer Frankie G was born in Russia, while the rapper Dave specifically calls Salt Lake City home, and the local odd couple Krooked Kings return with this grimy single from their new album, "Ugly Love." This is a track that raises the head and vomits some romance. The band, with its glistening indie-rock veneers and youthful navel-gazing, takes a bold leap forward here. Its heart is in radical honesty rather than neat conclusions.
The band, Oli Martin, Paul Colgan, David Macey, Matt Monosson, and added drummer Quinn Casper, have gained a reputation for writing songs that are at once intimate and wide. On "Ugly Love," that duality is compounded. There’s a certain unsteadiness as their voices wobble around each other, it’s raw in the best way, and an invitation to thoughts of relationships at their most uncomfortable, misunderstandings, stubborn pride, late-night rumination, and how they might also be tender and beautiful in their ugly ways.
Instead of treating love as a perfect endgame that feels like a movie, "Ugly Love" depicts it as gritty and flawed. There is spirit in the guitars, urgency in the rhythm section, and a vocal from Oli Martin that sounds lived-in and unfiltered. The production lends the track its emotional weight while ensuring it does not slather on too much shine. All the notes are there on purpose, but refreshingly human.
And what makes "Ugly Love" really sing is its relatability. It depicts the common push-pull, longing for connection in the face of openness. Instead, the band opts to eschew sheen for sincerity, letting listeners sit in the discomfort rather than running away.
On "Ugly Love," Krooked Kings show that growth isn’t always shiny. It’s messes like this that are thorny, noisy, and gloriously unresolved, and that’s exactly why it counts.
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