Little Kicks Album Two: Track-by-Track

Having spent years cementing their live reputation in Aberdeen and Scotland at large, The Little Kicks released their long-awaited debut album Boxing Clever in 2009. A collection of ten upbeat, thoughtful, musically intricate pop songs, it was, for all intents and purposes, an ideal representation of the craft they’d spent so long honing.

Of course, you have a lifetime to write your first album, but when the time comes to craft a follow-up, time isn’t quite so abundant. With that in mind, it’s encouraging to see that they’ve gone in for a relatively quick turnaround here, with their self-titled second album due for release on November 28th. We here at Daily Dischord have been fortunate enough to get an exclusive, advance listen to it, and here are our first impressions.

1. Anti-Work Song

Anyone who’s attended a Little Kicks gig over the last few months will be more than familiar with this. Hook-laden, striding and bursting with a fresh sense of purpose, it’s definite single material, and succeeds in maintaining that age-old Little Kicks trick: exhuding genuine musical intelligence while still keeping indie clubnight dancefloors squarely in their crosshairs.

2. Before Today

Warm synth and organ sounds flank this one, and frontman Steven Milne turns in one of his best vocal performances to date. If you could imagine The Little Kicks you know with an added injection of Blue Lights on the Runway-era Bell X1, you’d be just about there. Not as immediately memorable as ‘Anti-Work Song’, but by no means a lapse in form. Solid stuff, and it’s nice to see some new influences coming to the fore.

3. Making Big Decisions

Another diamond of a chorus, and one of the album’s more conventional pop songs. Another strong vocal performance, backed with typically intelligently-crafted guitar interplay. You could just about imagine this backing a scene in The Inbetweeners – it’s a breezy, summery number that is probably the most accessible so far.

4. Loosen Up

Another stylistic curveball here, as the more obviously guitar-driven atmosphere is well and truly kicked into touch – for the moment, at least - with this brooding, electro-tinged track. There’s a swipe of unsung 80s heroes Furniture here, and it’s a style that fits The Little Kicks like a glove. This is thoughtfully put together, but as is traditional, the chorus-writing ability doesn’t falter. Potentially the finest offering so far…

5. First Place

…that is, until the brilliantly sparse ‘First Place’ kicks in. Milne emotes over a superb electric piano sound at a lounge tempo evocative of Richard Hawley, while the brass section ghosts in and out surreptitiously in a manner we’ve come to associate with The National. Moving with a remarkable subtlety even at its loudest, this is a track whose greatest strength is its unwillingness to truly explode. A brilliant exercise in both grandiosity and restraint.

6. Call of Youth

There’s a better than average chance you’ll be familiar with this one already, having been released as a free download this summer. This is one of the only tracks here that wouldn’t sound out of place on Boxing Clever, but even here there’s signs of progress: just when you thought you had its laid-back indie stylings sussed, it veers into an ethereal, eastern-tinged haze in the final minute and a half, and simultaneously provides us with the album’s most accessible and atmospheric outing in equal measures.

7. Do Something New

We’re loving this one. More high-class indie here, as another great chorus is boosted into the stratosphere by a cleverly-woven string section. Another change of tack for the band style-wise, and another success.

8. Far Too Honest

Interesting choice of closer here, as this catches the LKs in decidedly sullen mood. A borderline tribal drum line, a pulsing bassline and reverb-drenched guitars set the tone neatly, with an organ sound lurking low in the mix until the mid-section, before the track builds to a suitably ambitious finale. Far from overblown, this is a track which draws its success from being sweeping and haunting rather than bombastic, with the same vocal trick as employed on Boxing Clever‘s ‘Small Talk’ working to devastating effect.

Overall, The Little Kicks have sailed through the ‘difficult second album’ with a level of poise and precision that should satisfy fans old and new. There’s enough in the way of familiarity here to satisfy the old guard, and enough in the way of progression for them to potentially win over the unconverted.

The Little Kicks are on tour in November:

9TH DEATH DISCO LONDON
10TH THE BASEMENT LEICESTER
11TH MILO LEEDS
12TH THE WATERSHED MILTON KEYNES
13TH JUNCTION BREWHOUSE YORK
14TH HEAD OF STEAM NEWCASTLE
15TH SNEAKY PETES EDINBURGH
16TH FLAT O/1 (MILK) GLASGOW
17TH THE BEATCLUB GOUROCK
18TH CAPE STIRLING
19TH TUNNELS ABERDEEN

You can here samples of the new album right here.

The Little Kicks – The Little Kicks (New Album) – Sample Tracks by THE LITTLE KICKS