The Kooks release their new album, 10 Tracks To Echo in The Dark, via Lonely Cat / Awal. Recorded in Berlin, production was slightly delayed thanks to the global pandemic...

Considering this is The Kooks' sixth album, the songs on 10 Tracks to Echo in the Dark are surprisingly fresh and full of the energy you'd normally expect from a debut album. This could be down, in part, to the fact that the band's Luke Pritchard recently got married and became a father for the first time. It almost feels as though he's put his demons behind him and has a more optimistic outlook on the future.

Talking about the release, Pritchard says: "I really want to have fun with my life at this point. But also – it’s kinda a reflection of what I was feeling in real-time in a pre-and-post Covid world. I was reading a lot of sci-fi – like Philip K. Dick, Azimov and surreal stuff like Boris Vian – which is obviously really distracting from what’s going on in the world, but helped me be imaginative with the songs."

This comes across clearly. As does the experimentation of dipping into and out of different genre's and decades. Whilst most of the tracks here owe a debt of gratitude to '80s pop ('Jesse James' is a lovingly crafted love letter to '80s synth pop) songs like 'Closer' and 'Beautiful World' are more reminiscent of '90s indie music.

Lovers of the '80s should immediately grab this. It's positive, quirky and a lot of fun.

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Nick Smithson