The K's - 'I Wonder If The World Knows' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Icarus

2. Heart On My Sleeve

3. Chancer

4. Throw It All Away

5. Lights Go Down

6. Hometown

7. Landmines

8. Hoping Maybe

9. No Place Like Home

10. Black & Blue

11. Circles

12. Valley One

The K’s are a band I’ve been lucky enough to see live a few times now, either supporting more established acts or at festivals. What’s always impressed me about them live is their stage presence, the quality of their playing and singing and the way their music translates to the live arena.

After having been a staple on the live scene for what has felt like forever, they are finally about to release their debut album.

The real concern I had approaching this album was how they would transfer their live abilities on to an album. There has always been a touch of stadium rock around their indie driven music, an ability to make things soar and to the take the audience with them (which given on a number of occasions it’s not been their audience, but the main artists is an impressive feat!). They also owned the main stage at Kendal where they will be retuning this year (if any of the band are reading this what’s the chances of an interview in the fields?).

So, does the album match the quality of their live shows? The answer is emphatically yes. It’s like they’ve gone in the studio and tried to work out how to create the perfect mix of indie, rock and an almost acoustic sound. They have experimented a bit but haven’t strayed too far from the sound which has been marking them out as a band to watch for some time now. Their songs are growing in maturity and ambition and an increasingly aware social consciousness.

What’s most impressive is the quality of the songs, the playing and the singing. Whoever mixed this album really knows their stuff.

The opening sounds a bit strange to start with but bear with it as it quickly changes into opening song 'Icarus'. There then follows a procession of songs, each equally strong and each brining something slightly different to this album. There is no weak song but several standouts, these will be different for everyone, but my own favourites are currently 'Heart On My Sleeve', 'Chancer' and 'No Place Like Home'. I say currently as this album is going to get played a lot and I suspect, like with all good records, I will discover things in other songs that I haven’t picked up on yet, it’s something I’m looking forward to.

With 12 songs and a running time of over 40 minutes this feels like a proper album and a statement of intent. Almost a case at look what we can do and you ain’t seen nothing yet!

The album itself it out on the 22nd of March on LAB records and the band are supporting its release with a number of shows, both intimate and bigger together with some festival experiences. Given how good they are live you won’t want to miss them in various venues including Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, London and Manchester amongst various other venues.