Watch Last Week’s Performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Band Readies For Fall Tour
The Kooks’ new album Listen is out today via Astralwerks. “It’s a word that looks and sounds beautiful,” says The Kooks’ Luke Pritchard. “I love the roundness of it, the simplicity of it.”
Luke’s reasons for choosing that title become clear the moment you dive into the new record – as they do when he starts to describe its genesis, and the personal and emotional transformation he experienced while making it. “To me,” Luke continues, “this album is about pure expression. Even the way we made the album felt fresh. Rather than us just being a band in a room, playing our guitars with the vocal over the top, which is what we’d always done before, we were really listening to what was going on around us, picking up ideas. The whole thing was much more natural.”
The album was produced by Pritchard and hip-hop producer Inflo, who he credits with helping him dig far deeper than he has before as a songwriter and develop a new direction for the band. Choosing to work with a producer rooted in hip hop and dance music struck some of the people on team Kooks as a risk. Pritchard stuck to his guns, however, and his instincts proved correct. “The moment I met him, it felt right; although we were, on the surface, from quite different backgrounds, I knew his cousin – we were at school together, we’d done songs together and made that sort of music. So in that sense, it felt almost like going back to something. He got where my head was at. We had such a strong connection.”
“Listen” has already received stellar reviews, with The Guardian hailing “It’s a fun listen, with shades of Ram-era Paul McCartney, the Stones and Shuggie Otis, full of eccentric funk and boogie captured on vintage instruments.” Songs released throughout the year from the record set the tone, receiving plenty of positive acclaim, with PopMatters hailing “‘Down’ is the best thing they’ve done in years and serves to signpost the band’s subtle change in direction (for the better) towards new soul and funk, not Pharrell-style funk, but old school 70s funk.” Listen to Listen at the links below.
Purchase at iTunes: The Kooks – Listen
The Kooks performed two songs from Listen last week on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, “Bad Habit” and “Around Town.” Watch the band’s performance at the link below.
Watch: The Kooks “Bad Habit” on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Watch: The Kooks “Around Town” on Jimmy Kimmel Live
About Listen, Luke Pritchard said: “To me, this album is about pure expression. Even the way we made the album felt fresh. Rather than us just being a band in a room, playing our guitars with the vocal over the top, which is what we’d always done before, we were really listening to what was going on around us, picking up ideas. The whole thing was much more natural.”
To celebrate the release of Listen, the band has announced a special scavenger hunt for fans this week across the globe. The search will have fans around the world following clues to locate limited edition gold leaf lithographs in local records stores. Stay tuned for further details via theband’s Facebook page.
Following multiple sold out shows in Los Angeles and New York this summer and a show-stopping performance at Lollapalloza in Chicago, the band will continue touring in support of the release of ‘Listen’ with dates in major markets across the country beginning in September. For full itinerary, please see below.
The Kooks On Tour
Sep 24 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
Sep 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
Sep 26 – San Diego, CA @ The House of Blues
Sep 28 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Sep 29 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox at The Market
Oct 02 – Denver, CO @ The Ogden Theatre
Oct 04 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Oct 06 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
Oct 07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Oct 08 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live
Oct 09 – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount
LISTEN / SHARE
Around Townhttps://soundcloud.com/
Down https://soundcloud.com/
Bad Habit https://soundcloud.com/
