Today British indie-pop trailblazers The Kooks announce their sixth studio album, ‘10 TRACKS TO ECHO IN THE DARK’, which will be released on July 22nd via Lonely Cat / AWAL Recordings and is a fresh sounding, electronic-tinged evolution of their iconic sound.
There’s also a fresh approach to releasing the album; the record will be released in three parts, the first two parts consisting of 3-track EP releases and the final part adding a further four tracks to the full album release. The first EP, ‘CONNECTION - ECHO IN THE DARK PART 1’ is released today, listen to ‘Connection’, ‘Jesse James’ and ‘Modern Days’ here. And watch the video for ‘Connection’ here.
After a worldwide arena tour, the release of their 2018 UK Top Ten album ‘Let’s Go Sunshine’ saw the band topping the bill at festivals across Europe and at home. The streaming boom had opened up The Kooks to a new audience of young fans who loved their distinctive brand of indie pop and were itching to see them play live.
Coming off the back of a punishing tour schedule, frontman, Luke Pritchard vowed to take a bit of a breather. But instead, found himself right back in the studio.
“I started going to Berlin for three or four days at a time. I was really affected by Brexit and I wanted to make a bit of a statement by creating a European record,” he explains. “We’re a European band, we practically lived out there and have so much love for Europe, so we wanted to keep that connection.”
Berlin has long been something of a creative Mecca for artists from all over the world and Pritchard found himself moving in those circles, meeting the collaborators he would work with on their behemoth of a sixth album, ‘10 TRACKS TO ECHO IN THE DARK’. The period was one of work, inspiration and creativity as opposed to partying. “I wasn’t doing any drugs,” Pritchard attests. “It was more dive bars and a bottle of whiskey than Berghain.”
The environment quickly started to work its magic. “A lot of songwriters have found refuge in Berlin”, he says. “It’s a free place, it’s not so consumed by commerciality. I was looking for something a bit rawer, a little bit more minimal. Sometimes you just pick up these nuances somewhere. It’s not necessarily the people, it’s the place.”
Armed with a new mantra – to not overthink things and just make a record that he’d want to listen to at home, the ideas came freely and easily. Pairing up with Tobias Kuhn to co-write and produce the bulk of the record, their first writing session saw them pen intention-setting lead single, ‘Connection’, in just a few hours. Things were moving well with the pair laying down five tracks, but in March 2020, COVID put a stop to Pritchard’s European dream, forcing him to return home to the UK to finish the writing sessions over Zoom until Tobias was able to fly out to London and record with him and the rest of the band, Hugh Harris (lead guitar / synthesiser / bass) and Alexis Nunez (drums).
Getting married and becoming a father for the first time, we’re hearing from a new Pritchard – one whose demons are behind him and is optimistic about the future.
ALBUM RELEASE JULY 22ND - PRE-ORDER HERE
EP RELEASE TODAY "CONNECTION - ECHO IN THE DARK PART 1" - LISTEN HERE