Listen (The Kooks album)

Listen
Studio album by The Kooks
Released 8 September 2014
Recorded 2013
Studio Los Angeles and London
Genre Indie rock, indie pop, chamber pop, alternative, funk, gospel
Length 38:23
Label Virgin EMI
Producer Luke Pritchard, Inflo, Fraser T Smith
The Kooks chronology
Junk of the Heart
(2011)		 Listen
(2014)
Singles from Listen
  1. "Down"
    Released: 18 April 2014
  2. "Around Town"
    Released: 15 June 2014
  3. "Bad Habit"
    Released: 15 July 2014
  4. "Forgive & Forget"
    Released: 1 September 2014
  5. "See Me Now"
    Released: 22 December 2014

Listen is the fourth studio album by British rock band The Kooks. It was released on 8 September 2014 through Universal.[1] It is the band's first album to feature new drummer Alexis Nunez who joined in 2012, replacing Paul Garred. The album was preceded by singles "Down", "Around Town", "Bad Habit" and "Forgive & Forget".

Stylistically, the album differs from the band's previous work as elements of jazz, gospel, and R&B were added into the music. This album also marks the first time Tony Hoffer did not produce the band's work. Instead production was handled by Inflo, Luke Pritchard and Fraser T Smith.

Listen is the band's first album in three years, with Junk of the Heart being released in September 2011. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and London.

Upon its release, Listen debuted at No. 16 on the UK Albums Chart and failed to meet the commercial expectations set forth by the band's previous work.[2]

Recording

"With this record we didn't do any rehearsing beforehand. I'd write a song with Inflo or on my own, put it up and we'd all play over it. There was a real freedom to the process," said the band's frontman Luke Pritchard.[3][4] "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."[5]

Pritchard found Inflo, a 25-year-old London-based hip hop producer via Soundcloud.[6] “I had written 'Around Town' and I thought maybe for the beat I might want to bring in someone from hip hop" said Pritchard.[6] The two artists were both looking to work with someone new and "looking to get out of the bullshit" of the music industry.[6] "Forgive and Forget" was the first song they wrote together.[6] Pritchard has described Inflo as a “a young Quincy Jones."[6]

Themes

Pritchard has explained that "Westside" is a track about his two best friends getting married and "Forgive and Forget" is a story of a couple breaking up in a bar.[6] The track "It Was London" is a song about the London Riots; "A big city like that, London, Paris, you have this illusion that everything's safe, and that sort of thing happens and the walls come crashing down. The police brutality that happened around that time… we wrote a song about that," Pritchard stated.[6] Pritchard has said that "It Was London" is one of his favorite songs on the album.[6]

The song "See Me Now" is a letter to Luke's dad that took on the form of a song.[6] "My dad passed away when I was really young. That's it really, it's a ballad. It's hard to do but I'm glad I did. I got pushed into it by Inflo really. We'd been talking about it all day and I was telling him about my dad and he just said you should write a letter to him. And I didn't really want to because it's a bit cheesy, but from there... the song came of it. I think it's really beautiful. I dunno why at that point I decided to let that happen," Pritchard said in an interview.[6]

Promotion

The lead single to promote the album, "Down", was released digitally on 18 April 2014 and as a 7" vinyl on 21 April 2014. The album's second single, "Around Town", will be released on 15 June 2014.[5][7] "Bad Habit" will impact US modern rock radio on 15 July 2014 as the third single.[8]

To support the release, the band embarked on a four-date UK tour in May 2014.[9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic60/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[11]
Digital Spy[12]
Drowned in Sound(2/10)[13]
The Independent[14]
NME(5/10)[15]
The Daily Telegraph[16]
The Guardian[17]
The Observer[18]

Upon its release, Listen garnered mixed reviews. At Metacritic, a website which assigns a rating out of 100 from reviews by mainstream critics, it currently holds a score of 60 based on 12 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[10] The Telegraph gave the album 4 stars out of 5, stating that "the Kooks have come out fighting though, completely re-evaluating and overhauling their sound and the result is an exuberant fourth album bristling with character."[16] The Independent commended lead singer Luke Pritchard's ability to search for new musical directions and also gave the album 4 out of 5 stars.[14] In a somewhat mixed review of the album, The Guardian gave it 3 out of 5 stars, commenting that the new album is "shamelessly retro, but enjoyable pop-rock".[17]

Track listing

Standard edition[19]
No. Title Length
1. "Around Town"   4:10
2. "Forgive & Forget"   3:57
3. "Westside"   3:30
4. "See Me Now"   3:01
5. "It Was London"   3:13
6. "Bad Habit"   3:40
7. "Down"   2:41
8. "Dreams"   3:00
9. "Are We Electric"   4:06
10. "Sunrise"   3:14
11. "Sweet Emotion"   5:11

Personnel

The Kooks[4]
  • Luke Pritchard – vocals, guitar, co-production
  • Hugh Harris – guitar
  • Peter Denton – bass
  • Alexis Nunez – drums
Additional personnel[4]
  • Inflo – production
  • Fraser T Smith – writing, production

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[21] 15
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[22] 23
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[23] 25
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[24] 55
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[25] 51
French Albums (SNEP)[26] 79
Irish Albums (IRMA)[27] 51
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[28] 19
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29] 16
UK Albums (OCC)[2] 16
US Billboard 200[30] 85
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[31] 32
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[32] 21

References

  1. ↑ "The Kooks announce new album 'Listen'". NME. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Kooks | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  3. ↑ Murray, Robin (12 April 2014). "Listen: The Kooks - Down". Clash. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Kooks Return With New Single 'Down,' Available April 20 [Listen]". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 Nissim, Mayer (24 April 2014). "The Kooks confirm new album Listen, single 'Around Town'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bedian, Knar. "Interview: The Kooks Talk "Listen"". Sound of Boston. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "Around Town - Single by The Kooks". iTunes (GB). Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  8. ↑ "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 11 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Rigby, Sam (18 March 2014). "The Kooks announce UK shows for May". Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Listen - The Kooks". Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Listen - The Kooks". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  12. ↑ Wright, Lisa (8 September 2014). "The Kooks Listen review: 'Much of the experimentation feels forced'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  13. ↑ Robertson, Derek (3 September 2014). "Album Review: The Kooks - Listen". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  14. 1 2 Gill, Andy (29 August 2014). "The Kooks, Listen, album review: Band channel the spirit of gospel and Ian Dury". The Independent. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  15. ↑ Homewood, Ben. "The Kooks - 'Listen'". NME. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  16. 1 2 McCormick, Neil (2 September 2014). "The Kooks, Listen, review: 'reveals a new dimension'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  17. 1 2 Gibsone, Harriet (28 August 2014). "The Kooks: Listen review – shamelessly retro but enjoyable pop-rock". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  18. ↑ Mardles, Paul (31 August 2014). "The Kooks: Listen review – meat-and-potatoes pop". The Observer. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  19. ↑ "The Kooks Listen CD". Virgin EMI Records. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  20. ↑ "Listen Deluxe CD & Band Signed Print - The Kooks". Virgin EMI Records. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – The Kooks – Listen". Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  22. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – The Kooks – Listen" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  23. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Kooks – Listen" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  24. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Kooks – Listen" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  25. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Kooks – Listen" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  26. ↑ "Lescharts.com – The Kooks – Listen". Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  27. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 37, 2014". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  28. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  29. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – The Kooks – Listen". Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  30. ↑ "The Kooks – Chart history" Billboard 200 for The Kooks. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  31. ↑ "The Kooks – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for The Kooks. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  32. ↑ "The Kooks – Chart history" Billboard Top Alternative Albums for The Kooks. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
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